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Asmir #1
No Gun for Asmir
War has come to Asmir's home in Sarajevo. He is torn from his father, his home and everything he has known. He becomes a refugee. This is a story of courage you will never forget.
- GenresWarNonfictionChildrens
Paperback
First published October 4, 1993
About the author
Christobel Mattingley
67 books12 followersChristobel Mattingley has been writing since she was eight years old and had her first pieces published in the children's pages of magazines and newspapers. Her first book, The Picnic Dog, was published in 1970, when she had three young children. While they were growing up she worked as a librarian in schools and in a teachers' college. She has been self-employed as a writer since 1974 and has travelled widely in Australia and overseas, speaking in schools and libraries. Christobel Mattingley has published over 30 books for children. Some of her works have been translated into other languages, have won various awards in Australia and the USA, and have been made into films for ABC Television. For most of the 1980s she worked with Aboriginal people and researched the history Survival in Our Land. In 1990 she received the Advance Australia Award for Service to Literature, and in 1996 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to literature, particularly children's literature, and for community service through her commitment to social and cultural issues. No Gun for Asmir received a High Commendation in the Australian Human Rights Awards of 1994.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 17, 2023
It was okmot was a bit hard to read at times and didn't really flow
June 12, 2019
Sobrecogedora historia sobre como puedes tener tu vida normal y de repente empezar una guerra a tu alrededor que te arrebate todo. Transmite fenomenal el miedo y la angustia de tener que huir, de llegar a un sitio nuevo, de pasar de golpe de ser una persona normal con tu vida y tu familia a convertirte en un refugiado, así como la importancia y el valor de los que se cruzan en el camino de esta familia y los tienden la mano y los ayudan.
Una historia real que le ocurre a miles de familias y que te rompe el corazón.
Una historia real que le ocurre a miles de familias y que te rompe el corazón.
April 13, 2023
Trigger warnings: war, Islamophobia, refugee experiences
This is kind of a difficult book to discuss 30 years after its publication, because it's narrative nonfiction written for children. Asmir is 7, and it's his story of fleeing Sarajevo with his mother, grandmother and younger brother and making his way to Austria and safety.
In some ways, it's depressing to think about the fact that 30 years on, there are hundreds and thousands of child refugees with very similar experiences fleeing to Europe from eastern Europe, western Asia and various parts of Africa. But at the same time, I wish this had been straight up nonfiction. Mattingley's son, who lived in Austria at the time, knew Asmir's mother and was responsible for Asmir and his family being able to settle in Austria, as well as helping the family find work and housing.
Mattingley and her husband were visiting their son around the time of the family's arrival, so she's effectively written herself into the story. And while I kind of understand her doing that to tell the full story, it kind of gave me the ick because there were moments when it felt very...white saviour-y.
Anyway. It kind of reminded me of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, but the title here makes absolutely no sense and feels like a hangover from a previous draft of the book where guns/being a child soldier was more front and centre than it is in the published version.
This is kind of a difficult book to discuss 30 years after its publication, because it's narrative nonfiction written for children. Asmir is 7, and it's his story of fleeing Sarajevo with his mother, grandmother and younger brother and making his way to Austria and safety.
In some ways, it's depressing to think about the fact that 30 years on, there are hundreds and thousands of child refugees with very similar experiences fleeing to Europe from eastern Europe, western Asia and various parts of Africa. But at the same time, I wish this had been straight up nonfiction. Mattingley's son, who lived in Austria at the time, knew Asmir's mother and was responsible for Asmir and his family being able to settle in Austria, as well as helping the family find work and housing.
Mattingley and her husband were visiting their son around the time of the family's arrival, so she's effectively written herself into the story. And while I kind of understand her doing that to tell the full story, it kind of gave me the ick because there were moments when it felt very...white saviour-y.
Anyway. It kind of reminded me of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, but the title here makes absolutely no sense and feels like a hangover from a previous draft of the book where guns/being a child soldier was more front and centre than it is in the published version.
December 23, 2025
A very emotional true story about a family fleeing from Sarajevo. The language was simple and the font large but I still cried multiple times.
February 10, 2021
Okay, so hear me out. I read this book because my cat chose it from the bookshelf as I misplaced my original February book for my bucket list that I'm trying to complete. You have no idea what I'm talking about because were not friends on social media, so forget I mentioned anything. Anyway, to be honest, I have no idea how this book got in my bookshelf as I am without a doubt, a judger of book covers and this one screams "I am pretty boring but I would make a good paper weight. Maybe? If you're desperate".
I had no idea it was a child's novel until I hit the illustrations. Not sure why the size 16 font didn't give it away, but nothing clicked until I got to page 11.
It was rather repetitive. The ending was horrid, only because I had to go beyond the book and google what happened to Daddy. Turns out, there's a second book from his POV which I now have the sudden urge to track down and find a copy to further understand what the heck I just read. Unsure who's dead at this point.
Regardless, quick little book to whizz through when hanging out on the hammock, eating mango skins because I read once that all the nutrients are in the skin. Why are we throwing them out ? It's like fruit jerky. Scrumptious.
Anyway, read this if your cat choses it, other than that, I'd give it a pass. A child won't enjoy it. An adult won't enjoy it. An adult child definitely did not enjoy it.
I had no idea it was a child's novel until I hit the illustrations. Not sure why the size 16 font didn't give it away, but nothing clicked until I got to page 11.
It was rather repetitive. The ending was horrid, only because I had to go beyond the book and google what happened to Daddy. Turns out, there's a second book from his POV which I now have the sudden urge to track down and find a copy to further understand what the heck I just read. Unsure who's dead at this point.
Regardless, quick little book to whizz through when hanging out on the hammock, eating mango skins because I read once that all the nutrients are in the skin. Why are we throwing them out ? It's like fruit jerky. Scrumptious.
Anyway, read this if your cat choses it, other than that, I'd give it a pass. A child won't enjoy it. An adult won't enjoy it. An adult child definitely did not enjoy it.
May 23, 2022
(Leí este libro hace meses, y creía que lo había reseñado en Goodreads, pero me he dado cuenta de que no.)
Muy mediocre libro juvenil (infantil, más bien) sobre un crío refugiado de la guerra de Bosnia. No hay trama (es Asmir siendo llevado de un sitio a otro y sus impresiones), los personajes se amontonan sin que ninguno de ellos tenga la más mínima personalidad y el hecho de que el protagonista mencione a su padre cada página acaba por ser cargante.
Luego lees la nota final y te enteras de que la autora es una señora australiana de sesenta años que conoció a las familias protagonistas y decidió canibalizar su historia (probablemente sin cambiar ni los nombres), y ya te cuadra todo un poco más.
Muy mediocre libro juvenil (infantil, más bien) sobre un crío refugiado de la guerra de Bosnia. No hay trama (es Asmir siendo llevado de un sitio a otro y sus impresiones), los personajes se amontonan sin que ninguno de ellos tenga la más mínima personalidad y el hecho de que el protagonista mencione a su padre cada página acaba por ser cargante.
Luego lees la nota final y te enteras de que la autora es una señora australiana de sesenta años que conoció a las familias protagonistas y decidió canibalizar su historia (probablemente sin cambiar ni los nombres), y ya te cuadra todo un poco más.
June 30, 2024
Este libro muestra la realidad de todas las personas que son afectadas por las guerras, el como cambia su estilo de vida y como les afecta emocionalmente y psicológicamente. Esto desde el punto de vista de un niño de 7 años, dónde se demuestra la inocencia y la madurez que debe tener el niño para enfrentar cada uno de los obstáculos, muestra igualmente lo difícil que es dejar de pensar en los que se han quedado atrás, en este caso el padre de Asmir.
La historia me parece cruda y sincera, permite reflexionar sobre lo que sucede en el mundo. Una bonita y conmovedora historia.
Para mí son 4 estrellas porque al final no se sabe que sucede con el papá de Asmir. Pero en general la historia es maravillosa.
La historia me parece cruda y sincera, permite reflexionar sobre lo que sucede en el mundo. Una bonita y conmovedora historia.
Para mí son 4 estrellas porque al final no se sabe que sucede con el papá de Asmir. Pero en general la historia es maravillosa.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2017
it is a great book as it is about a war that is happening in a 7 year old boy's home country and he needs to escape the unsafe environment and he will do whatever it takes to do so. meanwhile his father is suffering in the war and every day 7 year old boy, Asmir, is waiting for news from his father.
also, can someone please give me some lines of a poem for this book!
thanks
that would be appreciated
also, can someone please give me some lines of a poem for this book!
thanks
that would be appreciated
September 4, 2018
I remember seeing news of the war in the Balkans on TV as a young child. We're in the middle of another refugee crisis and reading this, it's the same story all over again - except with added detention centres and the rise of white nationalism. Unfortunately, even as the Balkans conflict faded from the nightly news and out of the minds of a nation's children, No Gun For Asmir hasn't lost its relevance. I only wish it had.
February 3, 2018
No Gun For Asmir is simply "short and sweet". It recounts the story of Asmir brilliantly! It has wonderful characters with great description. The book feels alive and the scenes are developed brilliantly. I just wish it was longer...
May 17, 2020
I'm aware this was a kids book, but I found it very condescending and repetitive. A child remembering snippets of a horrible war made sense, and the terrifying escapes. But what did the title have to do with anything???
September 18, 2023
I read this book in English this year and actually rather enjoyed it, asmir and his family’s story is so inspiring and also makes me feel very sad for anyone who has to go through that. I feel a new deepened sense of empathy for those who were forced to leave there homes due to war.
November 21, 2018
great book if you are interested in war, realist, or if you like books similar to the Holocaust
May 8, 2021
Es una historia simple desde la narrativa pero muy interesante no demora mucho tiempo su lectura
March 20, 2022
Es un buen relato de lo que fue la guerra y de las complicaciones que tienen lo que huyen de ellas.
May 14, 2022
been my fav book since 2016
November 8, 2022
Es chévere porque relata la guerra y el chico viaja a muchos lugares de los que no conocía. El final no me gustó, me pareció raro.
Read
May 28, 2023Buen libro, no apto para personas sensibles de corazón
September 30, 2024
No debí leer este libro a esa edad
Read
April 22, 2025No me deja poner estrellas negativas
February 25, 2017
I I like to read this book
November 9, 2015
The “Asmir” trilogy that begins with No Gun for Asmir, continues in Asmir in Vienna, and concludes Escape From Sarajevo, is one of Christobel Mattingley’s true stories. It is so true that Mattingley, herself, and her grown-up son play important roles in the story – a modern adventure of war-time refugees fleeing for safety!
No Gun for Asmir begins with the savage civil war that erupted after the fall of Communism in the bitterly contested and conflicted territories of the former post-Brosip Tito Yugloslavia.
Fighting breaks out around Sarajevo. To escape the dangers of artillery fire and snipers, a Muslim family a mother and her children escape from the Serbian assault. Meanwhile, in sequel volumes, the father and his mother – the maternal grandmother are forced to stay during the long brutal siege.
Mattingley writes in a way that simultaneously captures young Asmir’s point of view, shocked, terrified, puzzled by things that are too horrible to be really understandable even by adults. (War, and religious hatred, are fundamentally irrational!)
Yet at the same time Mattingley makes clear to older readers exactly what it is that Asmir cannot yet understand. Her words are so carefully chosen, though simple enough, the ordinary events so profound, though sometimes as brutal as our modern, often savage, world, that at many times adult readers will be close to tears.
Perhaps surprisingly, most of Mattingley’s many books provide stimulus for mathematical activities. Some are set in specific locations around Australia, while others are set in other places around the world: this calls for good map-work.
Many are set at specific times in history and need time-line research and historical contextualisation (dates and date-sequences are mathematical).
Her true-life stories of Asmir and his family, starting with No Gun For Asmir (Penguin, Ringwood, 1993), a Bosnian family with young children, displaced by the Serbian war against Sarajevo, require careful map-work and time-schedules to follow the routes to safety.
Families are important in almost all of Mattingley’s stories. Making a family tree is a helpful way of understanding significant relationships, as well as the generational distances of time. This can be expanded to include characters from the neighbourhood. Similarly, sometimes a sketch-map helps make sense of locations, and their spatial connectedness, for events in some of the stories.
Fortunately, Mattingley includes the maps that a reader needs to locate events, and follow Asmir and his family as they travel across central Europe.)
It is also important to identify, and compare, the allegiances and beliefs that are the root explanation of the Bosnian war: the Orthodox Christian Serbs fighting against the Muslim Bosnians.
This raises the historical and geographical and religo-cultural questions of even earlier times: how did Muslim peoples come to occupy territories that had formerly been Greek, and then Roman, and then Christian, and then Turkish Ottoman?
These true (!) and personal (!) “Asmir” stories are VERY highly recommended.
Moreover, the lessons they teach (although never in a heavy-handed, preachy, moralistic or didactic and teacherly way!) are, sadly, still highly relevant in our modern age of mass refugee movements in many war-torn regions of the world!
No Gun for Asmir has been widely recognised, and translated. For example:
1994, High Commendation, Children’s Literature Section, Australian Human Rights Awards.
1994 Children’s Book Council Notable Book.
1996 Shortlisted Yabba Awards.
1999 Shortlisted KOALA Awards.
Escape From Sarajevo has also been widely commended:
1997 Recommended List, Family Therapy Association of Australia.
1997 Children’s Book Council Notable Book.
1998 Shortlisted Inaugural Christian Schools Book of the Year Award.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
John Gough – Deakin University (retired) – jagough49@gmail.com
"Escape From Sarajevo" is the final volume of a real-life trilogy about modern-day Muslim war-refugees.
It tells the story of a Muslim father, and his mother, caught by Serbian forces, in the brutal siege of Sarajevo.
It shows, with great sensitivity and insight, the deep psychological traumas inflicted by battle-experience.
It is an inspirational, heart-stopping, profoundly challenging and ultimately uplifting story.
No Gun for Asmir begins with the savage civil war that erupted after the fall of Communism in the bitterly contested and conflicted territories of the former post-Brosip Tito Yugloslavia.
Fighting breaks out around Sarajevo. To escape the dangers of artillery fire and snipers, a Muslim family a mother and her children escape from the Serbian assault. Meanwhile, in sequel volumes, the father and his mother – the maternal grandmother are forced to stay during the long brutal siege.
Mattingley writes in a way that simultaneously captures young Asmir’s point of view, shocked, terrified, puzzled by things that are too horrible to be really understandable even by adults. (War, and religious hatred, are fundamentally irrational!)
Yet at the same time Mattingley makes clear to older readers exactly what it is that Asmir cannot yet understand. Her words are so carefully chosen, though simple enough, the ordinary events so profound, though sometimes as brutal as our modern, often savage, world, that at many times adult readers will be close to tears.
Perhaps surprisingly, most of Mattingley’s many books provide stimulus for mathematical activities. Some are set in specific locations around Australia, while others are set in other places around the world: this calls for good map-work.
Many are set at specific times in history and need time-line research and historical contextualisation (dates and date-sequences are mathematical).
Her true-life stories of Asmir and his family, starting with No Gun For Asmir (Penguin, Ringwood, 1993), a Bosnian family with young children, displaced by the Serbian war against Sarajevo, require careful map-work and time-schedules to follow the routes to safety.
Families are important in almost all of Mattingley’s stories. Making a family tree is a helpful way of understanding significant relationships, as well as the generational distances of time. This can be expanded to include characters from the neighbourhood. Similarly, sometimes a sketch-map helps make sense of locations, and their spatial connectedness, for events in some of the stories.
Fortunately, Mattingley includes the maps that a reader needs to locate events, and follow Asmir and his family as they travel across central Europe.)
It is also important to identify, and compare, the allegiances and beliefs that are the root explanation of the Bosnian war: the Orthodox Christian Serbs fighting against the Muslim Bosnians.
This raises the historical and geographical and religo-cultural questions of even earlier times: how did Muslim peoples come to occupy territories that had formerly been Greek, and then Roman, and then Christian, and then Turkish Ottoman?
These true (!) and personal (!) “Asmir” stories are VERY highly recommended.
Moreover, the lessons they teach (although never in a heavy-handed, preachy, moralistic or didactic and teacherly way!) are, sadly, still highly relevant in our modern age of mass refugee movements in many war-torn regions of the world!
No Gun for Asmir has been widely recognised, and translated. For example:
1994, High Commendation, Children’s Literature Section, Australian Human Rights Awards.
1994 Children’s Book Council Notable Book.
1996 Shortlisted Yabba Awards.
1999 Shortlisted KOALA Awards.
Escape From Sarajevo has also been widely commended:
1997 Recommended List, Family Therapy Association of Australia.
1997 Children’s Book Council Notable Book.
1998 Shortlisted Inaugural Christian Schools Book of the Year Award.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
John Gough – Deakin University (retired) – jagough49@gmail.com
"Escape From Sarajevo" is the final volume of a real-life trilogy about modern-day Muslim war-refugees.
It tells the story of a Muslim father, and his mother, caught by Serbian forces, in the brutal siege of Sarajevo.
It shows, with great sensitivity and insight, the deep psychological traumas inflicted by battle-experience.
It is an inspirational, heart-stopping, profoundly challenging and ultimately uplifting story.
August 2, 2016
A pesar de ser un libro que tiene ya más de 20 años, da miedo comprobar lo actual que es. Trata sobre Asmir, un niño bosnio de 7 años, y su familia y sobre cómo llegan a Austria huyendo de la guerra. Aunque retrate la situación vivida a causa de la guerra de Bosnia a principios de los 90, realmente narra el viaje de muchas personas refugiadas huyendo de un conflicto en cualquier punto del planeta.
Un aspecto a destacar es que la historia se nos cuenta teniendo en cuenta la perspectiva de Asmir, lo que lo hace una lectura aún más dura. Podemos ver la diferencia entre Amir (que tiene que crecer antes de tiempo y comprender cosas que a su corta edad no debería entender todavía) y su hermano pequeño Eldar (que aún es un bebé y no es consciente de lo que ocurre a su alrededor), el sufrimiento de los adultos que viajan con él (su madre, su abuela y sus tíos), los amigos que les ayudan a su llegada a Viena, el sufrimiento de dejar a su padre en Sarajevo... El hecho de que la historia no sea pura ficción, sino que está basada en una historia real, hace que duela aún más. En definitiva, es una lectura muy interesante para ayudarnos a reflexionar sobre el viaje de las personas refugiadas, las causas que les llevan a huir y las consecuencias que todo ello acarrea para estas personas.
Aunque está catalogada como literatura infantil (en Alfaguara, a partir de 10 años), es una lectura para todas las edades y los adultos también podemos aprender mucho de la historia que cuenta Christobel Mattingley en este libro.
Un aspecto a destacar es que la historia se nos cuenta teniendo en cuenta la perspectiva de Asmir, lo que lo hace una lectura aún más dura. Podemos ver la diferencia entre Amir (que tiene que crecer antes de tiempo y comprender cosas que a su corta edad no debería entender todavía) y su hermano pequeño Eldar (que aún es un bebé y no es consciente de lo que ocurre a su alrededor), el sufrimiento de los adultos que viajan con él (su madre, su abuela y sus tíos), los amigos que les ayudan a su llegada a Viena, el sufrimiento de dejar a su padre en Sarajevo... El hecho de que la historia no sea pura ficción, sino que está basada en una historia real, hace que duela aún más. En definitiva, es una lectura muy interesante para ayudarnos a reflexionar sobre el viaje de las personas refugiadas, las causas que les llevan a huir y las consecuencias que todo ello acarrea para estas personas.
Aunque está catalogada como literatura infantil (en Alfaguara, a partir de 10 años), es una lectura para todas las edades y los adultos también podemos aprender mucho de la historia que cuenta Christobel Mattingley en este libro.
January 12, 2012
I am a bit of a soft touch for books on the suffering of refugees, and this is really not quite into the YA genre, I think, being more aimed at around 8-12 year olds. It is a short, powerful story of bravery, war and fear and vulnerability, told through the eyes of 7 year old Asmir. Books like this which render difficult and complex situations comprehensible to children are precious jewels, and important for widening their horizons beyond their own immediate concerns - which is the process of maturation.
Mattingly's style is unembellished and compassionate, and I read this tiny book in a couple of hours, with tears in my eyes. We all need to be reminded frequently, no matter our age, of the price paid by children in war, and of the humanity and dignity which must be afforded to those in their hour of need. Don't get me started....
Mattingly's style is unembellished and compassionate, and I read this tiny book in a couple of hours, with tears in my eyes. We all need to be reminded frequently, no matter our age, of the price paid by children in war, and of the humanity and dignity which must be afforded to those in their hour of need. Don't get me started....
February 21, 2017
When I was ten I met Christobel Mattingley, who had released this book a few years previously. I was completely in awe of Christobel, and went straight to the school library and devoured the book in several hours.
Because this book is based on fact, but has plenty of fictional embellishments, I didn't feel like I was prying too much into to the life of Asmir's family. Although Asmir is very young, the subject matter isn't, and seeing it in the eyes of a child younger than you is confronting. I also attempted to read Zlatas Diary around this time, but struggled to finish it.
My favourite scene, of course, is the present form Muris. <3
Because this book is based on fact, but has plenty of fictional embellishments, I didn't feel like I was prying too much into to the life of Asmir's family. Although Asmir is very young, the subject matter isn't, and seeing it in the eyes of a child younger than you is confronting. I also attempted to read Zlatas Diary around this time, but struggled to finish it.
My favourite scene, of course, is the present form Muris. <3
September 28, 2009
This was a quick read for me but engaging. Christobel Mattingley retells the true story of Asmir as he escapes from his home town of Sarajevo during the war that ravaged that part of the world.
The story is told simply, but with concern for the welfare of the characters, and expresses their feelings and concerns very well.
A great book to read to understand the plight of refugee's.
The story is told simply, but with concern for the welfare of the characters, and expresses their feelings and concerns very well.
A great book to read to understand the plight of refugee's.
January 9, 2011
Esssentially a children's book, it is simply written but emotionally powerful. Long to get hold of a copy of "Escape from Sarajevo" to hear Asmir's father's side of the story. I was amazed at the endurance and ingenuity of the main characters and the kindness of strangers. I wonder if I could extend the same hospitality in similar circumstances? I hope that I'm not tested.
April 12, 2014
At the ripe old age of 9, while other kids were reading about ninja turtles and babysitting clubs, I was heavily ensconced in tales from war torn Sarajevo! Something clearly resonated with me as I went on to study the war in former Yugoslavia quite extensively at University. A really great, easy to read children's book.
August 17, 2011
The character I liked best is Asmir (rhymes with my name), being the main character, happy and playful. In the story Asmir leaves with his best toys, set in a backdrop of Christians fighting with the Muslims.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews