Publishers Weekly / "Best books: Lubna and Pebble" / 21 January 2019

Lubna and her father have come ashore in a new country, where they’re housed in a tent city. Lubna’s best friend is a pebble she picked up on the beach, “shiny and smooth and gray,” made cheerier by the happy face she draws on it with a marker: “Lubna told Pebble everything. About her brothers. About home. About the war.” After a small boy named Amir arrives, Lubna and Pebble befriend him. Then Lubna’s father announces that they’re leaving for a new home, and Amir despairs. Following a sleepless night, the girl knows what she must to do to comfort him. Spacious, soaring spreads by Egnéus (Raven Child and the Snow-Witch) add flashes of imaginative escape to the poignant story by Meddour (The Glump and the Peeble). He shows the action from Lubna’s point of view, rendering interactions between her and Pebble in intimate close-ups, while Lubna’s father and other adults tower protectively above them. In a particularly inventive touch, Amir’s shadow appears as a pomegranate tree; when he receives Lubna’s gift, it bursts into color in a magical expression of gratitude. The story addresses a difficult subject but stays focused on hope. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)