"Walsh has created real characters, places and situations that are all reachable and believable by the reader. Her tone and development of plot illustrate care and kindness and will attract empathetic readers. I would highly recommend this book to young readers, and to many classroom teachers for it's many cross-curricular links and for it's historical subject matter."
"Walsh provides young readers with a timely tale that helps to put a very real and human face on an event that shook all of North America...A thoughtful and compelling narrative that will give children much to think about."
"These youngsters are all engaging characters, and readers will be drawn into their stories, truly caring about them and their problems, and seeing how easily negative prejudices are formed and how much it takes to overcome them. A Long Way From Home is a good story and a fine addition to the growing collection of September 11 novels...Recommended."
I found A Long Way From Home, by Canadian Alice Walsh, to be a very powerful and well-written novel.
Alice Walsh’s A Long Way from Home is a compassionately told novel that straddles the line between children’s and young adult fiction, and the story it tells will appeal to younger and older audiences alike.
I liked this story because it was fictional but at the same time it was based on true events. I had no idea how hard it is to live in Afghanistan with the Taliban rule, especially for women and girls. I knew the Taliban had cruel ways but did not know they would wipe out whole families if they felt like it. The characters were all interesting and imaginable. This book would work for both boys and girls. I would say the reader should be at least twelve years old to read it. Any teen that likes fictional novel but also has an interest for world issues would enjoy this book!
… Walsh reminds us through her characters that with empathy and a willingness to listen, understanding and friendship can blossom, despite differences of culture and background.
Gr 5–8—Through the help of an aid organization, 13-year-old Rabia escapes the violence of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with her mother and brother and finds herself headed toward a new life in America, on an airplane with the unfortunate arrival date of September 11, 2001. After the attacks on the World Trade Center, U.S. air space is closed, and the plane, along with dozens of other flights, is diverted to Newfoundland. While Rabia ultimately reaches her California destination, the book centers on her time in Gander, where she encounters both the kindness of the local community, who rally around the stranded passengers, and the anti-Muslim sentiment of Colin, an American boy on her flight. As Rabia is clearly the protagonist, the chapter-to-chapter perspective shift seems unnecessary, and some of the added personal drama is overdone (Rabia's mother suffers a heart attack and is rushed to a hospital, and Colin grapples with the possibility of his parents' divorce). Additionally, Walsh's characters have moments of slipping into cultural stereotypes that seem a little too easy. The book's strength lies in the importance of the Afghani perspective, as well as in the explanation of the little-covered circumstances of travelers diverted to Newfoundland on 9/11. The narrative is compelling, and readers will find themselves rooting for Rabia's life to take a happier turn. This novel helps broaden the experiences covered in the small coterie of 9/11 books and will appeal to readers looking for information about that event, as well as those interested in books that include a South Asian voice.Joanna Sondheim, Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, New York City
Stranded for several days in Gander, Newfoundland, after American airspace was closed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Rabia, a 14-year-old Afghan girl, and 11-year-old New Yorker Colin unexpectedly connect. Walsh has used facts of the extraordinary welcome some 6,000 grounded air passengers received as unexpected guests of the surprised islanders as background for the stories of two young people: the Afghan refugee, escaping with what remains of her family, and the American sixth-grader, worried about the possible dissolution of his. It is the open friendliness of Canadian sixth-grader Leah that connects the two. As many Americans did, Colin reacts first with hostility, mindlessly connecting Rabia's Afghan nationality and Muslim faith with the acts of Osama bin Laden's followers. Learning her story makes him more sympathetic. And, though somewhat confusingly told from different points of view, this is essentially Rabia's story. There are flashbacks to earlier, happier times before she lost a foot to a land mine, her father was arrested, her oldest brother died, and her second brother was sent away. When her mother has a heart attack in Gander, Rabia rightly feels overwhelmed. Happily, responsible adults step in. Part refugee story, part 9/11 remembrance, this is a welcome addition to a small shelf. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
