When Stars Are Scattered

Nonfiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Introduction and Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-7

Part 2, Introduction and Chapters 8-11

Part 2, Chapters 12-14

Part 3, Introduction and Chapters 15-17

Afterword and Authors’ Notes

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 1, Introduction and Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Introduction Summary

Omar begins his first-person account with a brief introduction. He and his little brother Hassan look through a chain link and barbed wire fence toward a crowded group of refugees. They are searching for their mother. Not seeing her, they must get back to their block of Dadaab refugee camp, A2, before dusk to avoid trouble like last week when boys took their pants and shoes. Hassan can only say one word—Hooyo—and make vocalizations, but he greets many on their way back with hugs and handshakes for the people and fruits for donkeys and goats. Hassan and Omar sleep in a small hut near the hut of Fatuma, a woman who is “kind of like [their] foster mom” (9). Fatuma hugs the boys, showing genuine love and concern. Omar and Hassan cannot sleep well because of hunger (there is no food for supper), their bad dreams, and the sounds of other refugees’ nightmares.

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Omar reveals the backstory and setting. Dadaab is a large refugee camp in Kenya, a country in Africa. He and Hassan are from Somalia, where civil war drove them away. Omar wants the war to end so they can return and find their mother. Not everyone in the camp is Somalian; others are from Sudan, Ethiopia, or other places. Many in the camp want to go to America or Canada. Omar’s section of the camp, Ifo, is so large that it has mosques, markets, and a hospital. His days are painfully boring: He waits in line each morning to gather water at the communal spigot. He tidies the tent. He and Hassan eat at Fatuma’s if there is any food. Then Omar and Hassan play, often in the mud pit, making bricks for a pretend house and imagining what having a home with a mattress and fields with cows would be like.

Unlike his friend Jeri, Omar does not go to school because he feels a strong need to tend to Hassan. Hassan used to have seizures, and he does not sleep well. When the other boys are done with school each afternoon, they try to play soccer with a ball made from plastic grocery bags. A bully, Tall Ali, pretends to cry to get Hassan to cry as well. Omar soothes Hassan: “It’s not sad. We’re happy, ok? Happy” (23). Jeri teaches Omar to count to three in English and write his name in the English alphabet. Back at Fatuma’s, Omar reveals that he and Hassan have been in the camp for seven years.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

One day, a man known as Tall Salan introduces himself to Omar in English. Omar introduces himself in English in reply. To Salan’s questions, Omar explains why they live alone and that Hassan cannot talk. Salan is a community leader who wants to help those living in the camp with food rations or other problems. He decides Omar should be in school. He consults Fatuma, who agrees that she can tend to Hassan for the school day. Omar produces many reasons why he is the one who should tend to Hassan; he indicates he does not need school to go home to Somalia and farm. Salan insists that school will serve Omar well, considering the uncertainty of the future. Salan tells Omar that his intelligence is a gift from God not to be squandered. Omar finally admits that he is also worried about starting school in the same class as those much younger than him since he has never gone to school before.

Salan arranges for Omar’s entry into fifth grade with his peers. Salan even gives him a pencil and workbook of paper. Omar cannot sleep for making such a big decision; he is mainly worried that he and Hassan might be separated if something bad happens while he is away at school. He tries looking up at a star that makes him feel closer to his parents. After thinking all night, Omar knows that he truly wants to go to school. He wonders if getting an education might make him even better able to tend to Hassan.

Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

In the morning, Omar prays that going to school is the right decision. Fatuma tries to serve him her portion of food, but Omar tells her he is not hungry. Hassan wails when Omar leaves, and Omar must quell his fear, but he feels a tiny bit of excitement and happiness as well. Jeri is elated that Omar can come to school; when Tall Ali complains that Omar has a pencil and workbook, Jeri tells Ali that Omar will get better grades than Ali to quiet him. Omar secretly worries he will not be able to keep up at all. He greets a girl who lives a few tents away, Nimo, and her friend, Maryam. Nimo thinks nothing of answering back when Tall Ali insults Maryam and her, calling him a “towering tree of an idiot” (42).

The school is crowded; some students sit on the floor. Some are older, 15 or 16. The bell startles Omar. A different teacher covers each subject; each teacher comes in, teaches a lesson, and then leaves for the next teacher. Omar is dismayed that all the lessons are in English, but he tries to take notes on as much as he understands. It is difficult to concentrate when so many students want to whisper and make noise. Omar has lessons in language, math, history, and even art. The boys play soccer with an actual ball at lunch. He smiles the whole way home. Hassan runs to Omar and hugs him; Omar tries to relay what he learned that day to Hassan, even though he knows Hassan might not understand much. Omar is content that he is doing the right thing.

Part 1, Introduction and Chapters 1-3 Analysis

This opening section establishes key figures, the setting, a few general conflicts, and one specific conflict that the central figure Omar faces. Like many middle-grade protagonists, the reader gradually grows to learn about Omar’s life and traits throughout the opening pages; Omar is very different, though, from most MG protagonists. Omar’s story is based on the true-life experiences of Omar Mohamed, co-author of the book. When the graphic narrative opens, Omar is not exactly sure how old he is, where his mother is, what his brother’s health issues are, or what the future holds for him or thousands of other refugees in Dadaab. It is fitting, then, that the story begins on a page without detail or color, but only a vast inky sky with blurred stars that represents how Omar feels both loss and lost.

Omar’s general conflicts include worrying about Hassan and coping with the boredom of days in the camp while remembering to keep safe. His specific conflict—deciding to attend school—serves as the story’s inciting incident. It takes Omar a while to contend with his conscience regarding school; he wants to go but worries about Hassan. He wonders if school will prepare him to tend to Hassan better, but he fears vague, unspoken tragedies that will tear them apart if he is not at Hassan’s side every minute. Omar alludes indirectly to losing his mother in a similar way; a flashback image shows a baby crying and reaching toward a burning village as someone holding the baby flees. Not until he chooses school does Omar’s joy bubble up, and it juxtaposes keenly against his guilt in leaving Hassan: “But even with my brother crying as I walked away, even with fear gnawing at my insides… a tiny part of me felt happy. What was wrong with me?” (40). Looking at the story along the lines of the Hero’s Journey, attending school serves to bring Omar out of his Ordinary World of chores, boredom, and tending to Hassan without actually leaving Dadaab.

The reader meets many people in young Omar’s life; some are fictionalized representations of friends and fellow refugees from the author’s youth, like Nimo and Maryam. Others like Hassan are based on a singular actual key figure in the author’s life. The setting is established in both the colorized images on each page and Omar’s first-person point of view. When Omar describes the camp, he demonstrates no capability or knowledge of measurement or maps but depicts details in ways that middle-grade readers will still understand: “Dadaab is so big, it’s actually made up of three separate camps. You can take a bus from one camp to another” (14). The images in many of the comic book-style panels include the tents assigned to the refugees. Looking carefully at close-ups of the tents, the reader sees the imprint “UNHCR.” Omar does not reveal the meaning of this acronym, but an asterisked footnote explains that the “United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is an agency that helps refugees around the world” (24). Other parts of the story are told with strong support from the visual images; for example, Hassan’s personality and reactions come across through the artwork, so the reader begins to comprehend his personality despite him being nonverbal.