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Description
During the Armenian Genocide, two young teens, Mariam and her brother, flee after their family is torn apart. With a friend's help, they endure deportation, harsh conditions, and the difficult decisions that come with being orphaned in a hostile land. Their harrowing journey forces them to choose between the safety of an adopted home and the deadly risk of searching for surviving relatives.
Quick Summary
If you or your kid loves stories about real history that actually grabs you, this one's impossible to put down. Set during the Armenian Genocide of 1915, it follows two teenagers who escape against all odds and then face an impossible choice: stay safe with the people who take them in, or risk everything to find the rest of their family. The characters feel genuinely young and scared and brave, not like historical figures one of them especially has a stubborn streak that'll make you root for her the whole way. It's heartbreaking in places but never gratuitously dark, so most middle graders handling it will come away understanding this piece of history in a way a textbook never could. Fans of The Boy Who Died and Came Back or similar survival/historical fiction will find a lot to love here. It's the kind of book that sticks with you long after you finish the kind kids actually ask for more of once they're done.