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68th out of 104 books
—
454 voters
The Day of the Pelican
Meli Lleshi is positive that her drawing of her teacher with his pelican nose started it all. The Lleshis are Albanians living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors, and suddenly they are homeless refugees. Old and young alike, they find their courage tested by hunger, illness, the long, arduous journey, and danger on every side.Then, unexpectedly, t
Hardcover, 160 pages
Published
October 19th 2009
by Clarion Books
(first published October 1st 2009)
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Meli Lleshi is 12 years old when political unrest is stirred in Kosovo Albania. The Muslims are no longer safe. While in school, she draws a pelican that resembles her teacher and is told to stay after class. She figured that her brother, Mehmet, would walk home and spread the news but he ends up going missing for two weeks. He returns bruised and battered and with a hatred for the enemy. Meli’s parents escape to the mountains. When Father deems it safe to go back home, they are shot at and lea...more
I picked up this book to read because of a friend/co-workers blog. He had written that an author had gotten in touch with him about his work and experience living in Kosovo. We were both missionaries, he in Kosovo and I in Macedonia. The author then dedicated the book to him. Needless to say when I found out it was Katherine Paterson I couldn't wait to read it. I love her other books; Jacob Have I Loved, Lyddie, and Bridge to Terabithia.
I like how the book paints both the Serbs hatered for the A...more
I like how the book paints both the Serbs hatered for the A...more
I am loath to admit how little I know about this war that took place while I was an adult. Katherine Paterson writes of a family of Albanians caught up in the war in Kosovo. Life changes for Meli, a thirteen year old girl, and her family the day she draws a picture of her teacher, resembling a pelican, at school. Rather than waiting to walk her home, Meli's older brother goes home alone and is captured, thrown in jail and not released until several weeks later. Upon her brother's arrival home, M...more
Combining Paterson's gift of writing and the tragic truth of the Serbian "cleansing" of Kosovo makes this book a must read. I highly recommend social studies teachers to incorporate this book into their curriculum for Eastern Europe studies. Of course, I always thought that history and geography would be more entertaining with narrative fiction. Anyway, it might take the low level readings a minute to get use to the names, but the story is action pack making it a quick read. I also that it was i...more
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This masterful tale of one girl's journey from childhood across a war-torn landscape easily stands with Paterson's body of work. Meli and her family are forced to flee their home- first to the mountains, then to a refugee camp in Macedonia, and finally to a small town in Vermont- in order to survive as Kosovo goes up in flames. Though the harsh realities of war are muted in the narrative, there are veiled references to rape, torture, and genocide that will be picked up by older readers. The stre...more
Determined to stick together when war came to Kosovo in 1998, 11-year-old Meli Lleshi's family left their apartment over the store first to camp in the mountains, then to crowd into the family farmhouse before fleeing to the Macedonian refugee camp which they left for a new life in Vermont.
As she has done so often, Paterson creates such a sympathetic and realistic main character you can't hep but wanting to know her story. From the opening scene, when Meli's uncle arrives to tell the family the...more
As she has done so often, Paterson creates such a sympathetic and realistic main character you can't hep but wanting to know her story. From the opening scene, when Meli's uncle arrives to tell the family the...more
This was on display in the kids' section at the library and it was written by a very well-known and award-winning author of children's and young adult lit, so I gave it a whirl. The first half of the novel was pretty engaging--an iinteresting story of an Albanian/Kosavar family and its struggles as political refugees during the late 1990's. I like historical fiction. I never met an Albanian I didn't like. So I was into it. Then about half way thru the book the family gets sponsored to come to Am...more
In 1999, author Katherine Paterson's church sponsored a family to come to America from war-torn Kosovo. One of the members of her church mentioned to Katherine Paterson the idea that she could write a book about a fictional Albanian Kosovar family and the circumstances that they would have faced in their turbulent country near the turn of the twentieth century. The result of this idea is The Day of the Pelican.
It's rare to find historical fiction written so soon after the events it describes t...more
It's rare to find historical fiction written so soon after the events it describes t...more
Jul 28, 2011
Adriane Devries
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical,
summer-read-novels
Katherine Paterson’s historical novel for young people portrays the tangled web of the Bosnian Kosovo/Serbia conflict of the early 1990’s, as seen through the eyes of a young Albanian Kosavar girl. Young Meli’s way of life is shattered as Serbians and Albanian freedom fighters wage acts of vengeance back and forth over the issue of independence for Kosovo. After Serb militia burn down her family’s home, her family joins the pilgrimage of displaced Albanians on a frozen cross-country flight to sa...more
Touching story about the dangerous journey of an Albanian family in Kosovo during the late 90's. Forced out of their home and mistreated by Serbian police the Lleshi family only had their strength of will and determination to stay together to survive nearly 2 years of abuse. Parts of the story were very disturbing and paralled that of the holocaust. It is nearly impossible to understand so much hate and the strength of it. The saddest part is that it will probably never end. Even in this fiction...more
The Day of the Pelican
This is another book that mixes history with fiction. It reminds me of copper Sun. there are the oppressed and the oppressors again. Yet, the oppressed still make it to their “promised land,” somehow they overcome through it all---pain, suffering, degrading, ridicule. The day of the Pelican is another story, a historical fiction story, of suffrage to victory and hope. I like how in chapter 11 on page 95, it reads “AT last came the news they had almost given up hoping for…Th...more
This is another book that mixes history with fiction. It reminds me of copper Sun. there are the oppressed and the oppressors again. Yet, the oppressed still make it to their “promised land,” somehow they overcome through it all---pain, suffering, degrading, ridicule. The day of the Pelican is another story, a historical fiction story, of suffrage to victory and hope. I like how in chapter 11 on page 95, it reads “AT last came the news they had almost given up hoping for…Th...more
There is a whole genre of books like Ann Frank - this joins them, except it is fiction - and Katherine Paterson has done it again. Meli is an Albanian living in Kosovo as the civil war of 1998-1999 overtook her comfortable life. She and her family escaped to a mountain camp, living in tents even as the snow fell and trying to keep her brother from joining the KLA. The book is appropriate for middle school readers, even tho they'll have no memory of the war itself. Paterson writes from her experi...more
A book inspired by the true story of a refugee family from Kosovo that came to Paterson’s Vermont town. This family inspired her to write a touching and informative novel based on their experiences fleeing to safety.
This book’s title is very inspiring as that it demonstrates how quickly in life things change and how one small mistake can take you down an unexpected journey. This story begins as the main character, Meli draws a silly picture of her teacher and gets in trouble for giggling thus c...more
This book’s title is very inspiring as that it demonstrates how quickly in life things change and how one small mistake can take you down an unexpected journey. This story begins as the main character, Meli draws a silly picture of her teacher and gets in trouble for giggling thus c...more
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I wanted to put it on the shelf of "Historical Fiction" and then realized that, hmm... it is really a book of more or less current events in the world that the young readers are still living. 9/11 happened when the current 5th graders were 2 or 3. So, the "historical" part is recent, so recent that I wonder how we can best discuss the story with young readers.
Paterson did a fabulous job turning such complex political and national picture into something easy to understand and identify with for it...more
Paterson did a fabulous job turning such complex political and national picture into something easy to understand and identify with for it...more
The Day of the Pelican
by Katherine Paterson
After the Holocaust the world said, “never again will people be slaughtered because they are different.” That's never happened since, right? I wish that was a fact, but it's not. Every decade it's revealed that human beings kill other human beings because of their race, religion, tribal membership, who knows why? We still do this. In fact, thousands of Albanian Muslims fled Kosovo as recently as 1998 (you were alive then!) because Serbian Christians we...more
by Katherine Paterson
After the Holocaust the world said, “never again will people be slaughtered because they are different.” That's never happened since, right? I wish that was a fact, but it's not. Every decade it's revealed that human beings kill other human beings because of their race, religion, tribal membership, who knows why? We still do this. In fact, thousands of Albanian Muslims fled Kosovo as recently as 1998 (you were alive then!) because Serbian Christians we...more
The Day of the Pelican by Katherin Paterson, offers a fictional but accurate account of the events that transpired in Kosovo in the late 1990's. The story follows Meli, an Albanian Muslim, and her family as they face Serbian oppression in Kosovo. everything seemed to be going alirght for her family, until Meli drew a seemingly harmless characature of her teacher. From that point on everything went wrong. She and her family became homeless refugees and eventually made theirway tothe United States...more
Katherine Paterson's THE DAY OF THE PELICAN lends a human face to the 1998-1999 unrest in the former Yugoslavia. Meli and her family are Albanians persecuted by the Serbs under the reign of Milosevic and forced to flee for their lives, leaving everything they've known except for one another. Their journey is a perilous one with twists, turns, and hardships that will have young readers holding their breath. Even when the family seems to be starting a new life in a safer place, new challenges aris...more
This is another novel of war told from the perspective of a child, this time in the late 1990's in Kosovo. Thirteen-year-old Meli is the oldest daughter of an Albanian Kosovar family who must flee their Serbian aggressors. They lose their home, their business, family and friends. After much suffering they end up in a refugee camp and eventually emigrate to begin a new life in America. Their new homeland presents challenges, sufferings, and prejudices of its own. The story was inspired by the exp...more
Being forced out of your home is hard enough, but imagine thinking that it was all your fault. Young student Meli Lleshi had a great life in Kosovo. She had a loving family, a comfortable place to live, and a best friend. In this thrilling story Meli must learn to adapt to her changing environment as her family began to journey towards safety in the midst of a terrible war. Throughout her family’s difficult journey, Meli must grow up and learn how to become a woman. While being chased out of the...more
It’s Battle of the Books Friday. This book, The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson is not on the current list, but has been recommended for the 2011-2012 school year.
Description: Meli Lleshi is convinced that her drawing of a pelican resembling her teacher started it all. Meli’s family are Albanians living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors. On the day of the pelican, Meli’s brother Mehmet is abducted by the Serbian police, mistreated and dumped in the wilderness....more
Description: Meli Lleshi is convinced that her drawing of a pelican resembling her teacher started it all. Meli’s family are Albanians living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors. On the day of the pelican, Meli’s brother Mehmet is abducted by the Serbian police, mistreated and dumped in the wilderness....more
Even though I was in high school/college and studying European history during the conflicts in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, and Kosovo in the 1990s, I knew very little of what happened there beyond the facts of a genocide (mass killing of people based on their race or ethnicity) and the U.S. and NATO airstrikes. This book brought a sad episode in history to life. There is no better way to learn history than a first person account, fictional or real, yet the book feels like the story of Meli and her...more
This is the story of a family Albanians living in Kosovo who have are being persecuted by the Serbians and forced brutally from their home in 1999. Suddenly they become homeless refuges forced to live in a tent in the mountains. They survive the ethnic cleansing attempts that the Serbs submit to these people. Finally a church sponsors this family and they end up in Vermont. But their persecution doesn't stop there. This book really opened my eyes up to the plight of the refuges living in this wo...more
A young reader faces several challenges when picking up this book.
To begin with, the worst, most difficult writing is in the first few pages. Paterson faces the challenge of introducing the reader to a different culture and way of life, and she doesn't handle it gracefully. The writing is often overwrought and complicated. There are too many unfamiliar names, both of people and of things, right off the bat. She finds her rhythm when she is able to write about things happening, but I would not b...more
To begin with, the worst, most difficult writing is in the first few pages. Paterson faces the challenge of introducing the reader to a different culture and way of life, and she doesn't handle it gracefully. The writing is often overwrought and complicated. There are too many unfamiliar names, both of people and of things, right off the bat. She finds her rhythm when she is able to write about things happening, but I would not b...more
This gave me a whole new perspective on what it is like to be a refugee of war from another country. This is written from the perspective of a little girl whose family is dealing with the war in between the Serbians and Albanians in Kosovo. Very sad, but hopeful story line. It is based on a true story. It was written about the events that really did happen to a family who the author knows. This book shows the ugly things that happened in Kosovo during the war and in America during 9/11.
We read t...more
We read t...more
I liked that this novel tells a very personal story about an ethnic war that a very small percentage of the American population is familiar with. While most would think of the Holocaust when considering global atrocities, the Kosovo War is relatable in many ways.
While the story is an important one to read about, especially from the perspective of an Albanian Kosovar, and a child no less, I had difficulty seeing this as a true YA novel. The main character, Meli, never goes off on her own, or acc...more
While the story is an important one to read about, especially from the perspective of an Albanian Kosovar, and a child no less, I had difficulty seeing this as a true YA novel. The main character, Meli, never goes off on her own, or acc...more
Katherine Paterson has always been able to make me cry. This book was no exception. Meli's family lives in Kosovo. They are also Albanian and are persecuted by the Serbs. They are forced from their home, from a hidden camp in the mountains, to a refugee camp. The family makes it to America where everything is supposed to be better. Then comes 9/11 and Meli and her family find themselves again mistreated for being Muslim.
A very serious subject that has been portrayed in a personal, sensitive man...more
A very serious subject that has been portrayed in a personal, sensitive man...more
This was an interesting novel about an Albanian Kosovar who is affected by the violence in Kosovo in the 1990's and immigrates to the United States. Although I was alive during the time of the Kosovo War and heard much about it in the news, it is something I did not understand well until reading this short novel.
In addition to the historical data, it is also a good story in its own right exploring themes of war, resentment, hatred, and forgiveness. The book is written with an intended audience...more
In addition to the historical data, it is also a good story in its own right exploring themes of war, resentment, hatred, and forgiveness. The book is written with an intended audience...more
"Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party." Herbert Hoover
It killed me to leave this book off in Chicago as part of the summer Recycle Your Reads program (I am leaving children's books off during our summer vacation with a note to pass it along to another reader when completed). This is a beautiful and relevant story about the struggle in Yugoslovia with Milosovec at the helm. The compelling story about a family on the run told through the eyes of young Meli, a girl the same a...more
It killed me to leave this book off in Chicago as part of the summer Recycle Your Reads program (I am leaving children's books off during our summer vacation with a note to pass it along to another reader when completed). This is a beautiful and relevant story about the struggle in Yugoslovia with Milosovec at the helm. The compelling story about a family on the run told through the eyes of young Meli, a girl the same a...more
Meli is caught up in the turmoil in Serbia and Albania. Her family is forced to flee and she has to endure surviving in the wilderness with few necessities. Her older brother Mehmet wants to become an adult and is not quite ready for the experience. Following the War they are able to receive passage to America where they are faced with a new set of obstacles, learning English, finding employment, fitting in at a new school and making friends. When the tragedies of 9/11 occur they are forced to t...more
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From author's website:
People are always asking me questions I don't have answers for. One is, "When did you first know that you wanted to become a writer?" The fact is that I never wanted to be a writer, at least not when I was a child, or even a young woman. Today I want very much to be a writer. But when I was ten, I wanted to be either a movie star or a missionary. When I was twenty, I wanted t...more
More about Katherine Paterson...
People are always asking me questions I don't have answers for. One is, "When did you first know that you wanted to become a writer?" The fact is that I never wanted to be a writer, at least not when I was a child, or even a young woman. Today I want very much to be a writer. But when I was ten, I wanted to be either a movie star or a missionary. When I was twenty, I wanted t...more
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