Bibliography
Ellis, D. (2010). No Safe Place. Berkeley: Groundwood Books.
Summary
No Safe Place follows the story of Abdul, a 15-year-old Beatles fan from war-torn Baghdad, as he tries to find a way from Calais, France to Liverpool, England. He faces many obstacles as he finally boards a boat owned by a ruthless smuggler and begins the dangerous journey across the English Channel. The smuggler’s uncaring actions toward his unwanted nephew result in the smuggler falling overboard. Abdul and the other passengers, including the nephew, band together in mutiny against the tyrannical smuggler, and prevent him from coming aboard the boat, thus being presumably drowned at sea. Because of the broken motor and the dense fog, the passengers in the boat float aimlessly until they come to a yacht which together, they overtake, sending the two men on the yacht overboard. As Abdul and the other passengers work together to get to England, we learn more about their backgrounds and the circumstances that led each of them to their present situation. In the end, Abdul gets to Liverpool – to Penny Lane where he and his brutally-murdered friend from Baghdad had dreamed of realizing their musical ambitions.
My Thoughts
I really liked that this book took three teenagers who were alone in this world and brought them together through circumstances that led them to come together in the end. But what I liked the most about this book was that it was so real. It brought up issues that a lot of people would probably rather ignore, such as Abdul’s experiences living in Baghdad with a war waging around him and the resulting loss of his family members and friends. This, along with the description of the harsh living situations for migrants in Europe, the conditions Rosalia suffered as she was sold into prostitution, and the hard facts of Cheslav’s life in Russia, has really increased my awareness of problems and concerns that I really hadn’t dwelt on before because they didn’t affect me. This book is an eye opener.
Reviews
“This novel moves fast and furiously as readers follow the plight of three teen orphans who are attempting to escape from their troubled homelands to England. Rosalia, a Roma girl; Cheslav, a Russian boy; and Abdul, an Iraqi boy are all fleeing the cruelties of their war-torn cultures. The exciting and moving story manages to pull in the threads of our global history in the making – bombings in Baghdad, sex trafficking, and the harsh lives of underage conscripted soldiers. Violence is a big part of the teens’ short lives as a result of the injustices in the world around them; it includes beatings and deaths as a result of racism and sexism. The story line revolves around their experiences as they come together in Calais and make the crossing to England. Ellis deftly uses flashbacks to fill in the backstories of each character, reminding readers of how they can never really know where people are coming from emotionally. Her writing is highly accessible, and yet understated. Orphans of the world and victims of human trafficking need all the press they can get, and this book does a great job of introducing the topic and allowing young people to see beyond the headlines of ‘Another illegal accidentally dies in Chunnel.’”
Toumayan, M. (2010, Sep). [Review of the book No Safe Place by D. Ellis]. School Library Journal, 56(9), 152.
Ideas for Use
This would be an excellent book to read as a precursor to a unit of study on current affairs. Kids can take one of the many current world issues presented in this book to focus a report on.
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