The Bone Sparrow

The story of Subhi, a Rohingya boy born in an Australian immigration detention centre, Subhi knows no other life apart from the stories that his mother has told him.

Fraillon’s writing is tight and travels between the mystical land inhabited by Subhi’s imagination and the brutality of the life in an immigration centre.

The friendships Subhi makes with Jimmie, a girl living locally, but I suspect with Aboriginal ancestry, lighten the brutality of his daily life but also serves to highlight the hardships faced by both of the children in their daily lives.

The Stone Sparrow is going to be the core of my International Refugee Day display and week at work, as I feel that it is sympathetic without dismissing the troubles and hardships that are in the refugee system, especially for children.