Frightening account of war through the eyes of a child. Difficult to read while at the same time impossible to put down.

Title: Dear World: A Syrian’s Girl’s Story of War and A Plea For Peace
Author: Bala Alabed
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Publish Date: Sept. 12, 2017
Buy Link: TBP
Rating:

Book Blurb: “The planes came, and instead of dropping bombs, they dropped pieces of paper. The papers said: This area will be destroyed, you will face death. You must leave at once. The government also sent texts to warn us that in twenty-four hours terrible bombing would start.” (165)

Book Review by Nicole Harmon
This book as so many others that you read tells you a story about war and peace. It tells you about a young girl’s life and what it was like for her during her time in the war. Reminiscent of Anne Frank but yet different. Whereas Anne Frank is no longer with us we still for now have Bana. She is still in an area where she may be hurt, maimed or killed (murdered) but she is still with us. This book is her way of telling the world what it is like and her way of handling the war.
I do not think I should summarize this book except to say that this war began in Syria when Bana was three years old. At the time of this book’s completion she had just turned eight. So imagine you are a little girl whose whole world is her family. She gets up to play with her little brother and mother; goes to visit her grandparents and uncles and aunts; she has a best friend named Yasmin. Then all of a sudden, things started happening. Her father got picked up and kept for a long time by the Mukhabarat within the town. When he returned he didn’t say much except that it would be fine. Then the bombing started. After that all this little girl knows is that she is being bombed but yet still has her family. She has to change her ways of living; running to the basement to avoid bombing, stops washing up and her clothes because water is precious, eating little meals at a time and conserving what little electricity they have through the use of solar panels so they can use a cellular phone and her iPad. During this time she also with the help of her mother starts a Twitter account in which she recounts what is happening via pictures and posts. With the help of the Turkish governmental agency of the nearby state her and her family as well as others are taken out of that area to a place of safety. Now no longer near the direct fighting she is still telling her story hoping that you and everybody else will take note and help.
As with all who speak out against the regime in a Muslim country or one where the country is run by a dictatorial government anyone who speaks out is considered to be an enemy of the state or one who needs watching. Death threats happen and possibly attempts on one’s life. For Bana this is no different. But for now, she despite having to watch her back is safe. Who knows- maybe she will end up in America under Political Asylum.
I really liked the novel. I think that you should all buy it and read it to your children so that those who come after us know what it is like. We all know people who wish to become soldiers and want to defend the country. In America despite our many battles here there isn’t a real outbreak of civil war in the country. We have racial fighting, militia who live in stockpiled encampments and rogue gunmen who go after those who riot or are different than them. But a civil war where the actual government agency that controls the army sends that very army after us-no we don’t have that. So read this book to them so they understand the difference in the fighting and the type of fighting. And maybe if in ten years or so when they have to go to war should they choose to they will do it with the understanding that the war you may walk into might be that very same war that Syria is fighting. Fight for freedom, and equality and fight for normal life. Whatever is your normal.

“I’m very afraid I will die tonight.” —Bana Alabed, Twitter, October 2, 2016.

At the time that Yugoslavia collapsed, and Sarajevo was under siege, we were dependent on journalists to inform the world of the atrocities being carried out. These days, with Facebook, Twitter and the gamut of social media, we really have no excuse to claim that we are ignorant. It leaves me shamed and speechless to realise that it took a seven year old girl to alert the world to the recent situation in Aleppo.

Bana Alabed has written a revealing account of life in Aleppo, starting before the siege and then detailing the awful situation her family found themselves in. Inserts from her mother (an English teacher), provide another view-point and some background to supplement Bana's narrative.
Her family was reasonably well off, so they had the luxury of solar panels to power Ipads and telephones and Bana was able to send out Tweets, alerting her followers, of the building tensions and destruction surrounding her and her family. Eventually the authorities became wise to her activities and she, herself, became a target for the regime.

In spite of defamatory trolls and on-line rebuttals, denying the source of the Tweets, it has been proven that she was in the places she claims and in a position to send out the messages. A seven year old was truly keeping the world informed.

"Dear World" is a memoir by a seven-year-old about her experiences during war in Aleppo, Syria. Her mother also wrote short sections giving a mother's perspective on the events described by Bana. They don't talk about the grand scale of what was happening but described what it was like for a peaceful family caught up in a war in their city. We learned a bit about what Bana's life was like before war arrived in Aleppo, how life changed, what her family went through, and how they got out.

Bana wondered if people knew what was happening, so she started tweeting about it, including pictures and videos of the destruction. I haven't seen these, but she's a courageous young woman to do this when it endangered her life. The book included pictures of Bana's family during this time period and some of the destruction caused by the bombing. She didn't use graphic (as in, gory) descriptions but focused on how seeing the death, injuries, and destruction around her made her feel. This is a book that kids to adults should read, and it's a quick read, too.