The Paper House

Gr 3–5—When readers first encounter 10-year-old Safiyah, she is digging through piles of garbage, searching for pictures from old magazines in the Kibera slum just outside Nairobi. These pictures will serve a dual function: plugging the holes in the hut Safiyah shares with her sick grandmother and decorating its outside walls in a mosaic illustrating their family history. Neighbors and friends come together around the mural, telling their own stories of loss and displacement. The mural even attracts the attention of a local teacher, who secures an art scholarship for Safiyah, who has never been able to afford school. Young American readers will identify with many of the protagonist's daily problems (fights with friends, frustration with relatives), while challenges she faces (searching for potable water, finding medical aid for her grandmother) will educate them about life in poverty-stricken Kibera. There is an unfortunate lack of books for young readers about this part of the world, but Peterson's lackluster plotting and underdeveloped characters keep The Paper House from reaching past clichés to begin to fill this void.—Gesse Stark-Smith, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR