From Syria To America: A Teen Seeks A 'Safe Place' In The Universe
The last time Naji Aldabaan remembers feeling like a kid — mainly concerned with whether his mom would make him do homework or let him outside to play soccer — he was 10 years old.
The year was 2011, and Syria was collapsing into civil war as nationwide protests against the government were followed by crackdowns and arrests. One day, soldiers knocked on his door. They had taken away Naji's uncles. Now they'd come for his father. No one knew why. Such was the random nature of the terror.
Reporter Jake Halpern, who chronicled Naji's story with artist Michael Sloan in for the , was interested in telling the experience of a Syrian refugee family through the eyes of a young adult. Halpern is the co-author of several , adventure stories where kids are left to their own resources to save themselves (and sometimes the world as well). In his books, Halpern says, "the veneer of childhood falls away, [along with] this idea that life is good and society is there and parents are there. The kids are left to fend for themselves and figure it out for themselves."
