Have you ever followed a trail of shiny stones, one
more lovely than the other, until you found yourself deep in the woods of
wondering…?
STEPPING STONES: A Refugee Family’s Journey by
Margriet Ruurs, artwork by Nizar Ali Badr, Orca Book Publishers, 2016
First I read an article in Bookbird, A Journal of International Children’s Literature. The article was
written by Margriet Ruurs, an award winning author of more than 30 books for
children. She, too, was following a path
of pebbles, first showing up on Facebook. She saw the artwork of a Syrian
sculptor from Ugarit, now living and working in Lattakia, Syria. He simply
arranges rocks on the ground or on a rectangle of plywood – except it’s not so
simple. His images tell deeply emotional stories.
Author Ruurs had to find this artist, had to ask him
about his life and work. Her article in Bookbird details her determination to
find him and her inspiration to write a book about a refugee family’s journey
to find a peaceful life. She wanted Nizar Ali Badr to tell this eloquent story
in stones undergirded by his own intriguing story: a gifted artist managing to
create in spite of a multitude of deprivations.
I had to follow the trail to her book, too, as
reader. I had to know how her search ended, as well as more about the artist
himself.
Ruurs’ story follows a young girl who is forced to
flee her home when war comes to her Syrian village and “Life in our village
changed. Nothing was as it had been.” The pebble people who are her family say
good-bye to the rooster and the goat and go to the end of the earth where they
must cross a vast sea. The physical burdens of the pebble family’s belongings
bow the adults’ bodies, but the weight of loss is a burden the sculptor conveys
in all the bodies, young and elderly.
This family created by author Ruurs survives the
sea, but other refugees do not. On land once more, the family stops. “Mama and
Papa planted seeds to grow flowers to remember those who did not reach
freedom.” It’s a tender scene. Love, care, hope. All told in stones that have become
real people to the reader.
Badr has not left his homeland. In the foreword, author
Ruurs notes that sometimes the artist does not have money to buy the glue that
would make his art permanent. It becomes one of those “meant to be” moments
that made it possible for the artist and author to create this book for a
publisher willing to consider challenging circumstances. Badr says his
ancestors left “a signature in my genes to create and share my work with
honesty and modesty.” Ruurs hopes she can raise awareness of the plight of
those who must flee the horrors of war.
This is a beautiful book.
