Kortom een boek om in één ruk uit te lezen, niet enkel voor de doelgroep, maar ook voor volwassenen. Aya is new to England - she's only been in Manchester for 3 weeks with her Mumma and her little brother, Moosa. She's come because her homeland, Syria, is currently torn apart by war and it's not safe for her family to live there anymore. Despite me not being the target audience for this story, I thought it was a worthwhile read anyways. Sure, the writing wasn't anything spectacular and the plot a bit simplistic despite the serious subject matter, the message behind the words was very important and something children should definitely be exposed to.

It’s been a year since everything happened, but I still have bad dreams. Dreams of me and Tokes and Little Pea, racing through burning streets on the night the city was in flames… e.issuu.com/embed.html?d=repro_anothertwistinthetale_combined__1_&hideIssuuLogo=true&u=nosycrow Teaching ResourcesJohn Boyne is under fire for daring, as a white Irish gay man, to write a children’s book about a trans child. Catherine Bruton, the author of this novel about a Syrian refugee with a passion for ballet, clearly expects to get the same treatment and has felt compelled to write a defence of her actions at the end. I’m sorry I’m not a refugee, but this is important, kinda thing. Personally, I wouldn’t give the time of day to those who think you have to be Noddy to write a book about him... but there we are. Wat een mooi, aangrijpend verhaal. En wat ga je snel en veel om Aya geven! Een ontroerend en gevoelig geschreven verhaal dat me nog lang zal bijblijven, zeker omdat het zo'n actueel thema is en het voor veel kinderen de orde van de dag is. Ik hoop dat Aya's verhaal een bron van hoop kan zijn voor de jongens en meisjes die hun thuis, hun land, moeten ontvluchten en ergens anders een bestaan op proberen te bouwen: voor elke negatieveling in je omgeving is er altijd iemand die je met open armen verwelkomt. Ofja, dat is mijn hoop! Highly recommended for mature readers of 9+, this story contains emotive descriptions of the refugee journey, familiar to most adults but alien to most youngsters, and tragic events occur. For Aya, doing ballet is her own coping mechanism and her passion. Anybody can tell just how much she loves it and I'm so glad that the people around her are so supportive. Its so nice to see that families and strangers even are willing to go to such length just to make her dream come true. In No Ballet Shoes in Syria I tell the story of 11 year old Aya who has just arrived in Britain with her mum and baby brother, seeking asylum from war in Syria. When Aya stumbles across a local ballet class, the formidable dance teacher Miss Helena spots her exceptional talent and believes Aya has the potential to earn a prestigious ballet scholarship. But at the same time Aya and her family must fight to remain in the country, to make a home for themselves and to find Aya’s father – separated from the rest of the family during the perilous journey from Syria.

A moving story about one of the big issues of our time, told with wonderful clarity, and incredibly touching.” – Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo A piece of rubble from her bombed out home in Aleppo reminds her of the war her family fled from, and of her friends who did not survive. I feel privileged to have read this beautiful book -one that is destined to become a classic, like the books that inspired it, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and the Sadler's Wells series. But Anni is woefully unprepared for the virtual world of romance and trying to learn the protocols of social media might just be a Bitmoji too far… I liked the fact that the asylum system and her individual case was so clearly explained but also the fact that despite their different experiences, she and the other girls found common ground and understanding.Thank you to Catherine for her hugely insightful blog post, it’s really interesting to see how writers can be influenced by the books they surround themselves with. With tears running down my face, I held my breath as the story approached a deeply satisfying conclusion. Not all wrongs can be righted, but there is always hope, and above all this story is a hopeful one. This is going to seem a little obscure, but I was teaching Wharton’s 1920 Pulitzer prize winning classic to my lovely A Level class when I was writing the end of No Ballet Shoes in Syria and it is her beautifully delicately balanced ending that I attempted to emulate. I didn’t want ‘happy ever after’, because that would trivialise the issues I was writing about, but nor did I want the finale to be totally bleak. I wanted an ending that offered hope at the same time as breaking my readers’ hearts. Newland Archer sitting on a bench outside Ellen Olenska’s Paris apartment, not going up, but knowing that the memory of her is enough – it breaks my heart and makes me sob every time. And that was what I wanted to achieve too. I guess you’ll have to read it and decide if I succeed… But at the same time, Aya and her family must fight to be allowed to remain in the country, to make a home for themselves and to find Aya’s father – separated from the rest of the family during the journey from Syria. Aya is 11 years old and has just arrived in Britain with her mum and baby brother, seeking asylum from war in Syria.

The story it follows is very current. The Syrian refugee crisis is happening RIGHT NOW. But also, this book takes the opportunity to delve into the not-so-distant past to find other examples of refugees - things which the reader may or may not already be familiar with. I feel thoroughly educated after reading this book. I had never realised quite what went on - what is STILL going on - in Syria.Eleven-year-old Aya has arrived in Britain from Syria. She has left her homeland behind, lost her father and is holding the rest of the fragile family together, responsible beyond her years. When she glimpses the dancers in the community centre's ballet class, she longs to dance again - ballet was one of the things she left behind. The story follows Aya on her new life in England with extracts written following her journey from Syria to England. The minute you start this book you have so much sympathy for Aya and want nothing but good things to happen to her but life isn’t that easy, which Aya soon realises.