When Stars Are Scattered is a moving graphic novel that invites readers into the lives of Omar Mohamed and his younger brother, Hassan. In this first-person narrative, Omar leads readers through his years of waiting in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya, after he and his brother escape from Somalia. Life as a refugee in Dadaab is hard for many different reasons, but especially as Omar navigates it all as a young man. Not only is there never enough food, Omar is responsible for his younger brother Hassan, who depends on him. When Omar is given the opportunity to go to school, he is faced with a tough decision: is school worth the risk of leaving Hassan’s side each day?

Big Ideas:

• The refugee experience can vary widely; some may have an opportunity to seek asylum while others may be displaced indefinitely.

• Our roots (family, faith, upbringing) play a complex role in shaping our identity, values, and beliefs.

• Access to education can be influenced by many factors including gender, disability, and socioeconomic status.

• Coming of age can involve balancing a mature response to difficult experiences with childlike bursts of feeling and action.

• The symbolic meaning of certain key objects and settings (stars, sand, waiting, time, scholarship, dreams [121], America) changes over the course of the story as the authors develop the tension between hope and loss (37, 120).

• In a graphic novel, images and text work together in telling a story.