I think Zephaniah s a talented author and describes the characters that seek refuge from a real life experience. This is a touching and heart warming tale of a family that has been torn apart and forced to leave their country because of war and seeking shelter from an unusual place with different lifestyle and surroundings. I was impressed with the range of settings and backgrounds used in the novel like the new school Alem went to, the hotel he stayed in, the foster home, the court room and prison cell.
This book was written using creativity and had a lot of experience on refugees. The writing was easy to understand that anyone could read it without loosing interest because so many drastic and unspeakable events happen. Some are very sad others are very pleasing. Zephaniah has the power to create all the moods in any story and describe a tale without using any pictures but by using your imagination. This book had a lot of true meanings to it which I think gave a reaction to the readers and the author himself because he wrote this book using his own knowledge about seeking refuge.