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 2, Introduction and Chapters 8-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Introduction Summary

On a violet background crowded even more tightly with tents than in early chapters, a brief time stamp indicates a passage of two years. Omar sums up changes: He has some new clothes from the deceased son of a friend of Fatuma’s. Fatuma, Omar, and Hassan now own a goat; Brownie’s milk better sustains them, as they have milk for consumption and selling. Jeri and Omar made it into middle school along with Nimo. Maryam is married and helps supervise Hassan while Omar is at school. One teacher, Michael, motivates the students with the advice that they, as refugees, deserve just as much as others do. Michael asks the students to read aloud their compositions on what job they hope to pursue. Omar speaks about working for the UN in social work to help refugees. Nimo speaks about becoming a lawyer to help girls and women, and Jeri wants to be a teacher.

Jeri and Omar accompany Nimo to the market after school. Jeri’s father is there, chewing on khat with other men who loiter in the marketplace; Omar knows that khat “kind of helps you… forget things” (126). Jeri’s father is upset because he was optimistic about resettling in America, but the opportunity did not come. He sees Jeri and rudely calls out Jeri’s physical disability. He also tells Omar and Jeri they will never amount to anything as they are all slaves in the big prison that is Dadaab. Omar is in low spirits at home and questions the value of school and dreams if he cannot ever escape his life in the camp. Fatuma tells him the camp is like “God’s waiting room” and that Omar and others must have faith that God will provide what is best in the future. Omar is not convinced.

Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary

On the way to school the next morning, Jeri is in a bad mood from the run-in with his father. Omar, Nimo, and Jeri learn that a classmate, Abdikarim, and his family have made “the list.” The list reveals which refugee families will interview with the UN workers for potential resettlement in America or Canada. Everyone rushes to the selected family’s tent to congratulate them and ask questions. Nimo soon decides to go to school, but Jeri and Omar spend hours daydreaming about America. Omar cannot sleep that night due to buufis—a Somali word that means “the intense longing to be resettled” (138). Hassan helps him feel better the next day; the art images depict Hassan noticing Omar’s sad face, then pulling the corners of Omar’s mouth into a wide smile. Omar notes that Hassan is the one who can improve his spirits on gloomy days.

Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary

Omar goes to dugsi, a class for prayer and learning about the Quran. Jeri is there as well. Omar tries to preserve the feeling of peace after class, so that thoughts of unfairness and America do not bother him. Ramadan approaches; Jeri concocts a scheme to make some money from a large canister of orange drink powder. They will sell scoops of the powder to women who want to provide a treat at Iftar, the daily feast after fasting during Ramadan, for their families. The plan is successful. Omar gives the profit to Fatuma, who promises some sugar for tea. Ramadan ends with the celebration of Eid Al-Fitr. Omar prays and enjoys shared food and candy, a true treat.

Part 2, Chapter 10 Summary

After Ramadan, boredom and waiting return. Omar mentions how news crews sometimes arrive to report on Dadaab conditions but always drive away without helping. He also mentions that occasionally, UN workers come to observe the school. A woman named Susana arrives one day, and Michael introduces Omar to her because he recalls that Omar wants to be a UN social worker. Susanna is very nice to Omar and says, “Maybe we will be co-workers someday” (157). After UN visits, though, the volunteers leave for their compound that has water and electricity.

Omar joins the debate team, but life mostly continues on its boring path with vast amounts of routine and waiting. At the end of this chapter, the art image shows a “pulled-back” shot of many people all over the camp attending to daily duties or moving restlessly from one place to another.

Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary

Omar is in a terribly grumpy mood one day; nothing is going right. At school, an instructor reprimands him, he gets a pop quiz, and he struggles with a problem at the chalkboard. Tall Ali suddenly interrupts pre-algebra class to announce that both Omar and Nimo are on “the list” for a primary interview with the UN. Both are stunned. The teacher releases them. Omar has trouble thinking clearly but hopes it is true: “Through my foggy head, a little light creeped in” (163). Abdikarim’s father offers advice to the new interviewees based on his family’s experiences; they are still waiting to hear if they receive a second interview. He tells them to prepare to talk about why they left Somalia and how they would be in danger if they returned. Omar sees that Nimo is hugging Maryam and weeping.

Omar wants to talk to Jeri, but Jeri is too upset to see or talk to Omar. He moves away from Omar’s desk at school. Omar prepares for the interview by repeatedly rehearsing what he will say to the UN officials. The memories upset him and cause him to have trouble sleeping. He becomes nervous over the two weeks between the posting of the list and the interview date. Fatuma and the boys plan to walk the long trip to the UN office the night before the interview. Omar washes Hassan’s and his best clothing; he packs the clean clothes in a plastic bag to change into after the dusty journey. They shower and brush their teeth. The art images here show that a “shower” means dumping water on oneself from the collection container, and “brushing teeth” is done with a stick from a tree or bush. Omar tries to explain the goal of the preparations to Hassan: “Just saying the word—America—made me weak. I was so nervous” (167)

Jeri comes to offer his lantern to Omar and to wish him luck. They embrace. Omar stops by Nimo’s to say goodbye; she reveals that she feels guilt for being chosen. Omar, Hassan, and Fatuma make the long walk to the UN office and discover countless others waiting overnight for their interviews. The boys cannot sleep, so Fatuma tells them what she recalls from her visit as a young girl to the Somalian city of Mogadishu when it was a peaceful place with beautiful mosques and buildings. She talks about the sea, as it was the first time she had seen the ocean.

Part 2, Introduction and Chapters 8-11 Analysis

Juxtapositions abound in this section of the story. The introductory chapter sets the stage for Part 2, in which Omar sums up the most significant changes in his life at Dadaab—which in fact, are not very big: the goat, some new clothes, and middle school. It is notable that while Omar likes and appreciates his new clothes, he only received them because another young boy did not survive his diabetic condition. The sad reality is not lost on Omar; he thinks, “His heart was beating right here, where my heart is” (116), and in the accompanying picture, he holds his right hand over his heart on the outside of the shirt. It is also notable that while Omar was blessed with new clothes, Jeri, Tall Ali, and others are depicted in the same clothes as two years before. While conditions in the camp have changed very little, readers see in not-so-subtle ways how Omar, Hassan, Jeri, Nimo, and Maryam are growing up; they may be stuck in God’s waiting room, but time marches forward, as evidenced by their slight increases in height and physical size in the pictures as well as by their assignment in Michael’s class to discuss a future career.

Any hope or positivity at the beginning of Part 2 is juxtaposed readily with evidence of the harshness of camp life: Omar’s and Jeri’s dreams of future jobs are crushed by Jeri’s father, who himself symbolizes the failed hope of resettlement. Fatuma’s soothing attempt to describe their time at the camp as “God’s waiting room” makes Omar reflect on the camp’s prison-like qualities, emphasized with a drawing of his tent hemmed in by a rectangle of prickly thorns and surrounded by countless other tents. Newscasters and volunteers come to see the terrible camp conditions, then leave for safer, more comfortable environs. Even Brownie, who means milk and money for Omar’s little family, dislikes Omar and takes away the attention that Hassan and Fatima used to bestow on him.

Another juxtaposition is evident when Abdikarim’s family makes “the list.” Despite the joy and excitement among those who know the family, Omar begins to obsess about the unfairness of fate and happenstance that keeps Hassan, Fatuma, and him off the list when others get on. He feels buufis—even though he is self-aware enough to know “thinking like this doesn’t do you any good” (138). He reflects on a man who committed suicide when the UN rejected his case. Notably, the artwork here shows the man sitting with his head in his hands, shreds of the rejection letter scattered around him. The next panel shows Omar in an identical body position: “I want to leave this place so badly, I feel like I am going to explode” (139). Luckily, Omar is able to turn his thoughts to the Quran, his religious studies, and Ramadan for a time. When the holiday and the joyous feasting are done, though, his boredom and restlessness return in force, along with a grumpiness that echoes Jeri’s and Jeri’s father’s petulance from earlier in Part 2.

A strong juxtaposition occurs just as Omar is at his grumpiest—the joy and anticipation of a first interview with the UN. His excitement is tinged with complex emotions, though, as he sees friends’ reactions: Jeri must work through his envy, and Nimo is devastated to think of leaving Maryam behind. Omar’s memories bring pain and sleepless nights. In a final juxtaposition of this section of chapters, Fatuma relays the story of her long-ago visit to beautiful Mogadishu, as it was before the war. Her description is simple: “[…] a bustling city, a peaceful city, with food to by on every corner. You could still see all the palaces, mosques, and minarets from ancient times” (172). The artwork, though, reveals the most sweeping contrast yet: The reader turns the page onto Fatuma’s memory, or perhaps Omar’s imagination, of Mogadishu’s bright colors and shining sea. Compared to the consistent use of shades of brown to depict the camp in the daytime, the bright white buildings, blue sea and sky, green grass and trees, and yellow cars pop from the page in another strong juxtaposition and reminder that the war has robbed many lives of vibrancy and opportunity.