World in Between

Starred review from June 1, 2021

Gr 4-6-In this moving autobiographical novel, author Trebincevic recalls his family's harrowing emigration from Yugoslavia's Bosnia province to the United States when he was 11 years old. A typical tween, Kenan loves playing fudbol (soccer), hanging out with best friend Vik, and impressing pretty classmate Lena. Political unrest in neighboring provinces quickly spreads to Kenan's peaceful hometown, bringing war to the streets and turning friends into deadly enemies. Kenan, his older brother, and their parents flee with nothing but what fits in their suitcases. For the next two years, Kenan and his family endure a grueling, dangerous relocation through several countries, ending in the United States, specifically Connecticut. At each step Kenan and his family are met with alternating cruelty and kindness, making it difficult for the new immigrants to know whom to trust as they adjust to their new life. Trebincevic provides backstory to help readers understand the political forces that tore his home country apart, balancing that information with his own youthful bewilderment and anger, with which readers will readily empathize. The details of the family's multiple near-death experiences are gripping, although the novel's pace drags a bit midway through. The author's note provides fascinating details about the book's evolution and Kenan's collaboration with his coauthor. VERDICT An essential purchase for all middle grade collections, as well as school curricula on contemporary world history and immigration.-Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem P.L., Holbrook, NY

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2021
The 1992 Serbian invasion and subsequent massacre of Muslims and Catholics in Bosnia comes out of the blue for 11-year-old Kenan. One day he's playing soccer with his friends, and the next, they're treating him like an outsider. His teacher, Mr. Miran, threatens to shoot him in the street. Why? Because Kenan is Muslim. And so begins his story of survival. Escaping Bosnia with his family, after passing through checkpoints with the constant fear of being thrown into internment camps, they land in Vienna as refugees, stripped of all their belongings. Once financially and socially thriving, now they survive on the generosity of strangers, shepherded from home to home. Just as Kenan is adapting to Vienna, learning German and memorizing the trolley routes, his family is brought to small-town Connecticut. While his parents begin minimum-wage jobs, Kenan starts school and learns to deal with language barriers and bullying, all the while keeping up with the progression of the war in Bosnia. The question of whether they can ever return home never once leaves his mind. Based on true events in Trebinčevic's life, this account reflects aspects of the stories of millions of refugees fleeing war. At times, the level of detail feels excessive and the story too drawn out, but this title shows how, despite cultural and geographic differences, people everywhere are sometimes drawn to malice but more often to generosity and good. Shows how, for refugees, the struggle for survival doesn't end when you leave home. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from July 1, 2021
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* Chronicling his memories of a childhood marked by war and instabilities, Trebinčevic's fictionalized account of his youth in Bosnia is, in some ways, the story of any young teen. He (Kenan, in the narrative) loves fudbal (soccer) and wants to show off his best moves to his friends. He enjoys drawing, is teased for his buckteeth, puts up with the class bully, and is sweet on a certain girl. But soon his homeland is ripped apart by war. Trapped for months with his family in their home within a battle zone, losing their possessions and community status because they are Muslim, Kenan and his family are finally able to escape to relatives in Austria before enduring the process of coming to America. Their refugee experience has ups and downs and is slow-going as they strive to build a new life. Sharing a time and experience that has little exposure for most younger readers, Kenan's emotions and actions bring to life the common threads of growing up and discovering new favorite things. A photo of Trebinčevic as a youth and his afterword add context to this balanced, fictionalized memoir. Highly recommended for its emotional and historical perspectives, this is an insightful starting point for understanding one family's refugee experience, as well as the complexities of the Bosnian War.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2021
Eleven-year-old Kenan Trebinevi is growing up in Brko, Bosnia, in 1992. He enjoys his life -- home, friends at school, soccer -- but as Muslims living in a divided Yugoslavia, he and his family are in danger. Serbs control the military and see Bosnian Muslims as rebels and traitors. Kenan's friends begin to taunt him at school. Then there is violence in the streets (including a horrifying scene in which his teacher holds a gun to Kenan's head); homes are burned; entire families are shot. With Serbs having wiped out the family's bank account, the Trebinevis are penniless; they have no running water; and food is scarce. Kenan doesn't understand: "But we're all Yugoslavians. How could our own people be hunting us like animals?" Kenan's family decides to escape from Bosnia, and a nerve-wracking odyssey ensues through dangerous checkpoints to Vienna and on to America. Scenes come alive through the first-person voice and abundant dialogue. This "Muslim-Jewish collaboration" between authors Trebinevi and Shapiro follows after their joint effort on The Bosnia List (2014), an adult memoir. This is a long, intricately detailed narrative that effectively weaves in enough historical background to make events understandable for young readers. (Per an appended author's note: "All the historical events are true. Some names, dates, and details have been condensed or changed to protect privacy, and for literary reasons.") Dean Schneider

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2021
Eleven-year-old Kenan Trebincevic is growing up in Brcko, Bosnia, in 1992. He enjoys his life -- home, friends at school, soccer -- but as Muslims living in a divided Yugoslavia, he and his family are in danger. Serbs control the military and see Bosnian Muslims as rebels and traitors. Kenan's friends begin to taunt him at school. Then there is violence in the streets (including a horrifying scene in which his teacher holds a gun to Kenan's head); homes are burned; entire families are shot. With Serbs having wiped out the family's bank account, the Trebincevics are penniless; they have no running water; and food is scarce. Kenan doesn't understand: "But we're all Yugoslavians. How could our own people be hunting us like animals?" Kenan's family decides to escape from Bosnia, and a nerve-wracking odyssey ensues through dangerous checkpoints to Vienna and on to America. Scenes come alive through the first-person voice and abundant dialogue. This "Muslim-Jewish collaboration" between authors Trebincevic and Shapiro follows after their joint effort on The Bosnia List (2014), an adult memoir. This is a long, intricately detailed narrative that effectively weaves in enough historical background to make events understandable for young readers. (Per an appended author's note: "All the historical events are true. Some names, dates, and details have been condensed or changed to protect privacy, and for literary reasons.")

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)