Nadia is enjoying her birthday with her family and friends when news arrives of Mohamed Bouazizi, a young man who set himself on fire to protest harassment and corruption of government officials in Tunisia. Nadia is not aware of the new's significance, but the elders in her family watch as protests spread from Tunisia throughout parts of the Middle East in what is called the Arab Spring. Soon the Arab Spring comes to Syria as citizens begin to demand their rights and desires for improved living conditions. Instead of optimism the movement promised, civil war breaks out in Syria as multiple factions face off one another. As her family attempts to flee to Turkey and reunite with her father, their home is bombed and Nadia is left behind. With her cat, Mishmish, and the help of an old, mysterious man—Ammo Mazen—Nadia begins the journey.

After reading a little about the Syrian Civil War, Escape from Aleppo does a better job in explaining the origins and complexity of the civil war. The author is not afraid to touch upon the politics and uses simple terms for young readers without dumbing it down for them. Flashbacks of Nadia’s life before the war are interspersed with those detailing her struggles to find her father. Nadia gains courage and trust throughout her journey, thanks to her companions, all while struggling to understand why there is such sadness and unfairness in this world. There are dark moments in the book such as kids playing in a cemetery that formed a lump in my throat, but there is also a nice balance of kindness and hope too. Though there are moments of unrealistic events in the book that hinder the story, Escape from Aleppo is a necessary reminder and primer of what is happening in Syria and what many people in war town areas of the country live through every day.

Nadia lives with her extended family in Aleppo, Syria. When the civil war comes closer they have a plan to escape to Turkey. As they are fleeing, their apartment building is bombed and Nadia is caught in the rubble and left behind. She tries to make her way to the meeting point to find her family but they have already gone ahead. She meets Ammo Mazen on the road and he agrees to help her. Ammo Mazen along with his cart and donkey travels around Aleppo delivering items to contacts on both sides of the conflict. Nadia can't quite figure out who he is or what he is doing beyond helping her. What she does know is that his health is not good and the journey is making him deteriorate faster. They are joined by Basel and Tarek, two orphans abandoned in Aleppo.

This is one of those books I love, but I am not sure kids will pick up. It is an important story about current events and really humanizes the war in Syria. It shows that Nadia was just like kids in America before the war. She liked hanging out with her friends and painting her nails and visiting places in the city. Senzai does a great job of showing what Aleppo and Syria were like before the war and how normal life was there for most people. She also does a fantastic job illustrating just how devastating the war has been on not only the people but the cultural heritage of the country. I appreciated the ambiguous ending. We are led to believe Nadia will be reunited with her family, but we do not know what conditions they will be forced to endure or where they will end up. Just like many of the people fleeing Syria do not know.

This excellent story is about Nadia, a girl living with her large, extended family in Aleppo, when the war breaks out. Her family is separated when they are trying to escape and Nadia must make her way by herself to the Turkish border. Nadia finds new friends along the way to help and the story is told in both present time and flashbacks to happier times. This is going to be an excellent book for my school library!

This book was such a good, well-written and well-plotted book about a hard topic and is incredibly vital and relevant even more so now, given the latest failed attempt at a ceasefire in Syria. I want to hand a copy to every one who comes into our library so they can understand and emphasize more with what the Syrians - the ones still living there and the refugees - are going through or have experienced. Senzai deftly covers a lot of complex interactions and his narrator Nadia grows as a character with each new person she meets.

Timely piece that gripped my heart

Wow. This was a powerful book. Quietly telling a horrific all-too-real tale of escape from a war torn land, the narrative is somehow both gentle and jarring. I believe this book will help people like me understand what it can be like growing up in Syria and why people were so desperate to leave. I was pleased with the humanization of the soldiers as well.
Bonus points for including Harry Potter.

ARC-Netgalley

A sensitve historical fiction story - yet can it be called “historical” when it’s happening now?! Students need to read this book and develop empathy for the horrors far too many people must endure - people that do not have the freedoms we do.

One might expect an exploration of motivation, of source, in a story about revolution. And there is a small element of that here. We're fed brief glimpses of the societal unease pre-Arab Spring and the influence of social media. At heart, though, this is a book about how war entirely upends this girl's life and her attempts at survival after she is separated from her family.

Excellent read. This story gives you a look inside what it might be like to have your home become a war zone. It's easy to read with background information spread out enough to prevent slowing the story. It kept me engaged and made me want to learn more about Syria.

Nadia's family lives in Aleppo. They have survived during the fighting but now they feel that it is time to leave and get to Turkey. Nadia has barely left the house since she was injured by shrapnel a year earlier. As they prepare to leave Nadia hesitates and in doing so ends up too close to their house when a bomb hits. She survives but is knocked unconscious and is hidden under debris. Her family thinks she is dead and they leave, but leave a message for her at a spot they planned to meet at just in case. Nadia finds her way there, gets the message, and with the help of an old man and some boys she finds along the way makes her way out of Aleppo.
This is a good story in that it shows readers what the struggle in Syria has been about and what the experience would have been for a child trying to get it. The book does this in a way that a middle school reader can relate to without getting too graphic.

There's nothing that illuminates a situation more than reading a story about someone who is living it. The story alternates between when the 2010 violence erupted in Syria and the "present" time in 2013 when Nadia’s home is bombed and she escapes. But her family accidentally thinks she's dead and leaves her behind. Nadia meets an old man and two orphans. They navigate through the city, the checkpoints and bombings, in hopes to reunite with her family. It's a powerful story about a country and people in crisis.

This harrowing book follows a young girl who is suffering from PTSD due to a bombing she had previously experienced. Her family have a plan to escape if there is another such bombing and when the dreaded event finally comes, Nadia hesitates and becomes trapped in the rubble. Her family believe her to be dead and continue with their plan to flee to Turkey.

Nadia is not dead. When she emerges from the destruction, she tries to reconcile what's left of her neighborhood with how the neighborhood looked like before the bombing so that she can follow the escape route and reunite with her family.

Escape from Aleppo was absolutely stunning. It took me completely by surprise and with good reasons. Not only is our protagonist a wonderful character - both in terms of her personal growth and also personality - but the entire story is so cleverly done. There is a very real willingness to go into detail about the conflict and talk about the death and destruction, without the necessity of gore. At the same time, there are so many touches of the book that make it truly remarkable, such as the decision to save priceless texts. These are the moments that stand out to you. I would recommend Escape to Aleppo to anyone and everyone.

This is an important book and sadly relevant in our current world. The story of a girl left behind in Syria as she tries to escape to rejoin her family in a Turkish refugee camp. The tale tells of the horror of war, but intermingles with luscious flashbacks of the rich history and treasure of the country. I wish I could have seen it before the war. This would be a good book to share with students, to put a human face on the issue.

4 out of 5 stars.

At times a little heavy-handed in its messaging and exposition, this was a gutting book that takes you through a true tragedy through a child's eyes. That's the gutting part — that a child is living through this. I think that's the brilliance of it as well, that it's for children and about children. Hard to say I "enjoyed" reading it because it's such a tough book, maybe I should say it was an honor and that I feel motivated to help.

The story of Nadia's childhood in Aleppo, Syria is not one I will soon forget. The book floats back and forth between the present and Nadia's recalled memories as she travels to meet her family in Turkey. The people she meets along the way deepen the story in ways I never imagined. This books filled me with empathy for those living in a world other than my own. Each step, a challenge; every breath a new fear, never knowing if you'll see another day. This historical fiction led me to want to know more and help in ways I never thought about. Senzai writes in a way that allows you to be present with the characters and feel their fear and pain. At the end of the story, I learned that we all have the power to change, learn and grow. It won't always be easy, but if we believe in our hearts, we can be different.

The Syrian civil war invades the calm and familiar lives of a young Syrian girl and her family in this novel. Bombs begin dropping nearby, and troops invade to turn their neighborhood into a battlefield and force them to flee their home. We experience the story from the young girl’s, Nadia’s, perspective as she survives a bomb’s near miss and becomes separated from her family. She must then find a way to survive the dangerous streets, the skirmish’s battlefield, to rejoin her family. While fleeing, she finds a mysterious old man and his donkey who guide her through the rubble and chaos, but as confusion rules the day, she is unsure whether she can completely trust him. Is he protecting her and leading her to safety or using her as a human shield to protect himself? And how does he seem to know so many people? Nadia’s story brings to life the brutal circumstances from which the stream of Syrian are seeking refuge. Through her eyes we see the devastation and violence, we encounter the confusion of different factions of rebel groups, and, through her flashbacks, we learn about the events leading up to the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War. This is a great novel for anyone looking for a story about the current events in Syria. It is an engrossing read and would appeal to adults as well as children.

Nadia is surrounded by her large extended family and her privelaged lifestyle in Aleppo Syria. With polital unrest, war gets closer and closer until the decision to flee to Turkey becomes the only choice. While leaving their home, the neighborhood gets bombed and Nadia becomes separated from her family. Left to flee to the border on her own, Nadia must avoid notice by the many factions warring in her homeland.

During her journey she meets a sick, elderly gentleman traveling with a donkey and cart, as well as two orphans. While not entirely sure she can trust the old man she cautiously accepts his offer to help her get to the border. While fighting for survival, the little group forges a bond, finding strength in their relationship.

The religious and political history of Syria is told in flashback chapters where Nadia looks back to the moment the war became more than white-noise in her life. Her journey is very real with descriptions of situations, people, and places as they are - right now, in Syria.

Escape From Aleppo gives a kid's view of the events in Syria following the Arab Spring uprising.
Senzai always does a great job of bringing current world events to American readers and Escape From Aleppo is another perfect example. I was interested in this book even more than others because many of my students are Syrian or Lebanese, so these events are particularly affecting for their families and friends. Nadia is twelve when the Arab Spring begins, and its consequences impact her whole family and community. Nadia is injured in bombings, cannot go out for fear of becoming a target, and loses friends and family. But when she gets separated from her family during bombings in her neighborhood, Nadia must become stronger than she ever believed she could be in order to stay safe and find her way back to them.

I'm sure this book will be lovely, however, I could not read it due to the format of the ARC. I look forward to reading it when it comes out in print.

Oh, my heart. Aleppo and all of Syria has faded from the US newscasts, and that is bordering on criminal when you dive into the situation there.

Nadia and her family live in an Aleppo and are attempting to leave the country as the war near them escalates. As they are going Nadia is frozen in anxiety and fear as she sees the helicopters approaching and gets trapped as her building gets blown up around her. Her family hopes that she is just stuck in the rubble and moves on for the safety of the group. They leave a note for her at their designated meeting place with further directions of how she can meet up with them.

The story flashes back just a few years and gives the reader glimpses into the fact that Nadia and her family are just like Americans. They have Facebook and Twitter where they monitor current events and try to make sense of what is happening around them. Nadia has a great birthday party and watches Arab Idol. Flash forward to the present and Nadia is forced to make her way across a war zone with the help of an old, ill man and two boys that she meets along the way. Although they are in constant danger they are resourceful and there is a happy ending.



I received a DRC from the publisher (through NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.