In-house review ... The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

The news has been filled with refugee stories of late as people flee across Europe.  We are bombarded with images and tragic tales from afar as we watch their desperate journey across the sea and land and fill the camps on borders waiting in hope that they will be received and welcomed to a new place with a new life.  A safer place, a safer life.

In the Bone Sparrow, Zana Fraillon brings us a local story, one that has been happening for so long that we’ve become so accustomed to it, we have stopped noticing that the refugee crisis is on our doorstep too because we live in a safe place that people have traveled across the world to in order to feel safe in our land. 

Set in a permanent detention camp in Australia the story follows two very different children.  Subhi a child born in detention who has only known life behind the wire fences of the camp and Jimmie a young girl on the outside with her own struggles to overcome.  Their friendship across the fence and the hurdles they overcome together is an uplifting reminder that we can still find hope in the direst situations and that change is possible.

Zana Fraillon has written an extremely important reminder of the true story of refugee detention here in our own country.  Whilst saddening and sometimes traumatic this book is ultimately about hope.  I cannot heap enough praise on this book for its lyrical beauty and believe this title should be read by young, old and in schools everywhere.