Salma the Syrian Chef

Salma is a little Syrian girl who just moved to Vancouver with Mama. Everything is new and different. Salma misses Papa who is still in Syria. She misses their home, a cute yellow house surrounded by a garden. But most of all, she misses Mama’s laugh, the bell-ringing giggle Mama used to have but is now buried in settlement commitments and homesickness. So Salma has decided to make Mama’s favorite Syrian dish, shami, and to see Mama’s happy face again. With the help of all her friends at the Welcome Center, Salma, filled with determination and unexpected challenges, stumbles along on her journey. When she doesn’t know the English names of the vegetables she needs, she draws pictures of them. She seeks help from her friends on how to use a kitchen knife, and when all is not going as expected, she manages to look at things from a different perspective. Finally she successes in presenting the well-missed home dish for Mama and hears her cheerful laugh.

The award-winning author and activist Danny Ramadan owes the credit of writing this heart-aching, yet inspiring story to his Syrian-Canadian background. Only those who have lived and breathed the story can tell it well. Salma the Syrian Chef, which reads like a multi-act play, provides several dimensions for readers to better understand what Salma is facing. The untold stories between the lines unfold a bigger and more powerful picture – the life and experience of refugee and immigrant families.

The authentic and vivid illustrations flow perfectly with the story. Anna Bron seamlessly integrates the pictures into the book’s text, thereby allowing readers to enjoy a film-like reading experience. She paints a multicultural scene by capturing the details on people’s clothing and framing certain pages with traditional Syrian patterns. The finishing touch is the purple sky painted with colors of crayon in Salma’s dream, the perfect metaphor for the beginning of a new memory.

Salma the Syrian Chef is one of the million stories of immigrant and refugee children. It opens a window for people to look into the unique experience these families have. I highly recommend schoolteachers and community librarians to read and share this book with young children and their families. It will also be a great choice to read with immigrant and refugee children. The co-reading experience will help young children feel seen and felt and, therefore, to be able to express some of the big emotions.