SuitabookNo Ballet Shoes in Syria
Catherine Bruton
- Reading
- Read alongside the child if the family wants to pause over war, displacement or family separation. The alternating timelines may make Aya’s past emerge gradually; discuss feelings and choices without requiring the child to compare them with real experiences.
- Themes
- Belonging beyond labels: Aya enters an unfamiliar community while trying to secure a future for her family, and relationships develop through the ballet class. The narrative is presented as humanising Aya beyond the labels ‘refugee’ and ‘asylum seeker’, with friendship and welcome treated positively.
- Children carrying adult responsibilities: Aya translates, answers questions and looks after her younger brother while her mother is unwell and the family’s circumstances remain uncertain. The book presents competing or mixed signals about this.
- Memory, war and rebuilding: Past sections recount Aya’s life in Aleppo and her journey through Turkey and Greece, while present events trigger memories of what the family endured. The structure gives readers information about displacement through Aya’s perspective, with traumatic events disclosed in brief, expanding recollections rather than graphic scenes.
- Worth knowing
- Some difficult material is present: war, forced movement, separation from a father, an unwell and traumatised mother, prejudice, uncertainty over status, and stress from adult responsibilities. Traumatic experiences are reportedly revealed gradually rather than described in graphic detail.