This is such a lovely book. It's a good story about friendship, helping others and being new in a foreign country. It could also be fun culinary springboard, making all the recipes that the characters in the book miss,

This was so wholesome to read! I never read anything like this when I was a child and I'm so glad that kids now will be able to more easily learn about each other's experiences in a way I wasn't able to.

Salma the Syrian Chef is a sweet story about the immigrant experience.

Salma and her mother live temporarily in the Welcome Center in Vancouver with a number of other immigrants. Salma is trying to adjust to her new life, but she's aware that her mother is busy and distracted. In fact, it's been a long time since Salma has heard her mother laugh. She thinks that if she can bring a little taste of home to Canada, it might help... so she sets out to make foul shami. Not knowing the language makes it tricky, but she succeeds in finding most of the ingredients. Things go well until a series of mishaps threaten the dish, and Salma wonders if her mother will ever laugh again.

I always like to see a book that's set locally, and this one has the added bonus of focusing on a subject that's current and timely. The struggles of the newcomers--especially in learning English--are highlighted, but with an undercurrent of patience and hope. Salma and her mother already have a great network of new friends who understand each other's emotions because they're all going through something similar.

The illustrations are quite cute. They have an almost retro-animation sort of style, complemented by geometric ornaments and patterns. The pictures work really well with the story.

Overall, this is a strong book about the emotional side of a child immigrant's experience. I enjoyed getting to know Salma and her friends... and learning a little bit about Syrian cooking.

This is just a beautiful story in every way. The artwork is lovely but the story itself is even more so. A little girl misses her father and her home from her new home in Vancouver with her mother. She misses her mother's smile most of all. She tries to cheer up her mother with a drawing and jokes but nothing works until she decides to cook her mother's favorite Syrian dish.

This could be an easy ending, with the girl magically figuring out how to make it and getting the ingredients and everything working out perfectly, but it isn't. Salma has all kinds of challenges, from trying to find a recipe that nobody else knows how to make to shopping for ingredients for foods she doesn't know the English words for to problems that keep happening. She gets frustrated, sad, has to make adaptations, but perseveres. She also has the help of all kinds of friends of all ages and from many countries.

Other things I really liked -- The writing is wonderful, not the generic writing that people use so often in children's books but poetic lines like, "Salma feels useless, like an umbrella in a country with no rain." Also, I love the tiny little additions that help spread diversity and show positive role models like a father walking with a baby in a carrier on his chest and the loving gay couple from Lebanon who help her chop onions.

This is ultimately such a positive story and touches on so many themes.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

In Salma the Syrian Chef, written by Danny Ramadan and illustrated by Anna Bron, we are reminded of common bonds and universal languages that we share. Languages like laughter, cooking, and beauty. Salma has just moved with her mother from Syria to a Welcome Center in Vancouver. Her father stayed behind in Syria, but they hope he will be able to come to Vancouver very soon. Salma notices that her mom seems quite sad and wants to do something that will bring joy back to her mother’s face.

Salma recognizes that no matter where the other residents of the Welcome Center have come from, they all miss food from their home countries. She decides to cook foul shami for her mother to bring happy memories of Syria to Canada. She needs help from some of the younger and older residents of the Welcome Center to make this dish and she encounters some challenges along the way.

Ramadan has taken the very complex experience of immigration and the simple, but profound, act of cooking a meal to create a feast of love and hope in this picture book. The bright and expressive illustrations by Bron bring the story to life and will draw in readers of all ages. This is a book to read again and again in classrooms and homes around the world.

There is so much talk about immigrants these days. Children, of course, become aware of what is going on in the world around them as well. This book will be a good conversation starter for both emigrant children and those who go to school, play and live along with them.

In this picture book, Salma is newly arrived in Vancouver and is adjusting to life there. She misses home and notes that her mother is very sad as well. Salma would like to cheer her up. How she goes about doing this is the subject of this story.

I liked that in Salma's world adults tried to understand and help her. This is a perfect model to put forward.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

Salma and her mother have moved to Vancouver from Syria while her father is still there. The times are hard, Mother is sad and all Salma wants is to see her mother smile and listen to her laugh again. After talking with her friends, she realizes the way to make mother happy is to make her favorite Syrian meal and she gets right to work. After figuring out how to purchase the items at the grocery store when she isn't even sure of the English names and cooking help from her friends, she is set and then disaster strikes.
I can't fathom the overwhelming feeling of moving to a new place, away from your family with the impossible tasks of finding work, paying rent and raising a child all at the same time. This book was such a window for me into the lives of refugees with children who are doing all they can to just stay afloat.
I love the relationships represented in this book and the connections we are all able to make to one another. Wonderful story.

I requested this book to read to my kids primarily because they have been super interested in cooking lately. I thought it would be nice for them to learn about another young chef who likes to cook, and even more intrigued by the ideas of a Syrian chef, where a lot of the ingredients they would not have heard before. I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. Not only do you learn about a Syrian dish and what goes into making it, but you also learn about the difficulty in coming to a new country when you had to leave your own. This was a perspective that I wasn't anticipating, but ended up being great discussion for my children and myself. Definitely recommend this for any kids aged Kindergarten and higher.

We need more books like this! Salma the Syrian Chef introduces children to a different culture and the story of refugees. A great book to teach children to have empathy and compassion for those struggling to acclimate to a different culture.

Salma the Syrian Chef by Danny Ramadan is a lovely, heartwarming story of seeking the comfort of familiarity in a place that is far from home.

Young Salma only wants to make her mother smile again. Living in Vancouver, Mama is struggling to learn a new language, while at the same time missing Papa who remains in Syria. Salma decides that she will make one of her mother's favourite Syrian dishes, hoping that the taste of home will once again bring a smile to her face. The challenges presented by such a task are more than Salma imagined, but with the help of her friends, she feels a sense of community, and she and her mother realize that as long as they are together, they will always be home.

This is a wonderful story that will surely evoke empathy and foster an understanding of the refugee perspective in children of any age. The illustrations are gorgeous and colourful, bringing a true warmth to Salma's story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Annick Press Ltd. for this ARC.

"Salma the Syrian Chef" is an adorable, heartwarming story of a young, Syrian girl who is a refugee living in Vancouver with her mother. Salma sees that her mom is sad because her dad is still in Syria. She comes up with an idea to make her mom's favorite Syrian dish, foul shami. Salma gets help from others in the refugee welcome center with finding a recipe, ingredients, and then cooking.

This book is well illustrated and really cute. I did struggle with reading it because of the NetGalley format, the pages were out of order, but that's okay. I really enjoyed this sweet book and I think it would be an excellent addition to an elementary classroom or gift for a child.