What do you think?
Rate this book
Lubna and Pebble
In an unforgettable story that subtly addresses the refugee crisis, a young girl must decide if friendship means giving up the one item that gives her comfort during a time of utter uncertainty.
Lubna's best friend is a pebble. Pebble always listens to her stories. Pebble always smiles when she feels scared. But when a lost little boy arrives in the World of Tents, Lubna realizes that he needs Pebble even more than she does.
This emotionally stirring and stunningly illustrated picture book explores one girl's powerful act of friendship in the midst of an unknown situation.
Lubna's best friend is a pebble. Pebble always listens to her stories. Pebble always smiles when she feels scared. But when a lost little boy arrives in the World of Tents, Lubna realizes that he needs Pebble even more than she does.
This emotionally stirring and stunningly illustrated picture book explores one girl's powerful act of friendship in the midst of an unknown situation.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2019
8 people are currently reading
1183 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 477 reviews
November 8, 2023
5 "empathic, gorgeous, perfect" stars !!!
10th Favorite Read of 2019 Award (tie)
First of all a warm thank you to Calista whose children's book reviews always delight me especially the ratings of her very adorable niece and mischievious nephew.
My goodness ! Thank goodness ! I did not yet try to read this to cousin's children as I sobbed uncontrollably the first read, cried sweetly on the second read and was even tearful on the third read.
This little book in very few words provides children with a deep understanding of what it is like to lose your home to war, seek safety in your dad and a pebble, provide comfort and solace to a fellow little person who is also displaced and be able to say goodbye with grace and gratitude.
The illustrations are gorgeous and rich and provide both a feeling of wonder and safety.
This small story is huge in compassion, wisdom and inspires us to do more not for just children but all those seeking safety in other lands.
Suitable for children aged four and up.
10th Favorite Read of 2019 Award (tie)
First of all a warm thank you to Calista whose children's book reviews always delight me especially the ratings of her very adorable niece and mischievious nephew.
My goodness ! Thank goodness ! I did not yet try to read this to cousin's children as I sobbed uncontrollably the first read, cried sweetly on the second read and was even tearful on the third read.
This little book in very few words provides children with a deep understanding of what it is like to lose your home to war, seek safety in your dad and a pebble, provide comfort and solace to a fellow little person who is also displaced and be able to say goodbye with grace and gratitude.
The illustrations are gorgeous and rich and provide both a feeling of wonder and safety.
This small story is huge in compassion, wisdom and inspires us to do more not for just children but all those seeking safety in other lands.
Suitable for children aged four and up.
September 6, 2019
Another lovely book. The artwork is amazing. I can see this being nominated for a Caldecott. It makes loose allusions, but I think this is about a girl in a refugee camp, but it never says that. A girl ends up somewhere from a boat with her dad. They live in tents and she remembers her family. That is all pretty much alluded too. Lubna finds a pebble on the beach and she befriends it and draws a smile on the pebble. She tells it everything, her memories and fears and hopes. Eventually, another kid shows up and they become friends too. At the end of the story Lubna and her dad are moving on to somewhere and she has to say goodbye to her new friend.
I love the thought of telling the pebble everything. Back when I was in Michigan, I had a confessing tree in the woods and I would walk through the woods and climb the branches of my tree and pour my heart out about everything. It was amazing. I still know that tree very well in my mind. I loved it and I always felt so much better after doing so. I can relate to the pebble. I like my tree because it could hold me, it covered me and it’s roots went deep to steady me. It was a fabulous listener.
The nephew thought this story was sad and he doesn’t really like sad stories right now He could related to the pebble too for some reason. He also thought living in tents was fun and he loves to build tents in the living room. Still, he thought it was sad and he gave it 2 stars.
I love the thought of telling the pebble everything. Back when I was in Michigan, I had a confessing tree in the woods and I would walk through the woods and climb the branches of my tree and pour my heart out about everything. It was amazing. I still know that tree very well in my mind. I loved it and I always felt so much better after doing so. I can relate to the pebble. I like my tree because it could hold me, it covered me and it’s roots went deep to steady me. It was a fabulous listener.
The nephew thought this story was sad and he doesn’t really like sad stories right now He could related to the pebble too for some reason. He also thought living in tents was fun and he loves to build tents in the living room. Still, he thought it was sad and he gave it 2 stars.
December 13, 2019
This has everything I look for in a children’s picture book: appealing illustrations; endearing characters; and minimal, effective text. In addition, a page near the end caused the eyes of this adult to immediately well up with tears.
March 16, 2019
Just beautiful. My heartstrings haven't been tugged this hard by an inanimate object with a crudely-drawn face since Wilson kept Tom Hanks company on a deserted island.
March 10, 2019
A beautiful, quiet story that addresses the refugee crisis with grace and dignity.
November 21, 2020
Oh my goodness, this is such a heart-warming story of friendship during the worst of times. Dreamer Lubna finds a best friend in a special pebble and it brings her comfort as she and her Dad have to flee their town and live in a 'tent city' becoming refugees. Lubna makes a friend called Amir and together they laugh and play as children should, but when it's time to leave for a new home Lubna makes an incredible sacrifice.
A book that subtly touches upon the current refugee crisis and the experiences of children living in tents as they dream of a new life.
A book that subtly touches upon the current refugee crisis and the experiences of children living in tents as they dream of a new life.
October 22, 2019
This is a very simple book. A little girl, her father, and a refugee camp. Lubna finds a pebble and a felt-tip pen, gives Pebble a face, and gains a companion. The simple text, and beautiful drawings don't obscure a deep compassion for the plight of refugees around the world. The littlest victims are children who should have a home that is safe from danger and war. Sadly too many of them don't survive the journeys. This story offers hope as we see Lubna make a friend and enjoy the delights that children should experience despite her surroundings.
This book is for preschool-grades 3. However, it is a story that brings up the some of the deepest fears children have- loss of home (and family). We don't know where her mother is, or if she has (had) siblings. I grew up an army brat. By the age of 12, I had moved ten times. I remember many journeys with the entire family in the car, at night, driving through towns I didn't know. In that car, with my family, I felt safe while the world outside was scary. I don't remember how old I was, but I was older than Lubna. I love this book, but any adult sharing it should be aware of the questons and possible fears it could bring up in young children.
This book is for preschool-grades 3. However, it is a story that brings up the some of the deepest fears children have- loss of home (and family). We don't know where her mother is, or if she has (had) siblings. I grew up an army brat. By the age of 12, I had moved ten times. I remember many journeys with the entire family in the car, at night, driving through towns I didn't know. In that car, with my family, I felt safe while the world outside was scary. I don't remember how old I was, but I was older than Lubna. I love this book, but any adult sharing it should be aware of the questons and possible fears it could bring up in young children.
March 24, 2019
Wow. A gripping story of coping and compassion.
April 12, 2019
When Lubna opened her eyes, it was morning. They had landed in a World of Tents.
Lubna, a young refugee, finds comfort and security in a pebble-friend as she and her father navigate displacement. Then Amir, a little boy going through what Lubna already experienced, arrives.
You know how it's easier to be brave when helping someone else? That's how it is for Lubna with Amir. Pebble pulls friendship double-duty.
Stunning illustrations, nay Art, steal the show. Subtle story-telling. What more could you want? This also reminds me of my favorite picture on refugees, Four Feet, Two Sandals. Read them both.
Lubna, a young refugee, finds comfort and security in a pebble-friend as she and her father navigate displacement. Then Amir, a little boy going through what Lubna already experienced, arrives.
You know how it's easier to be brave when helping someone else? That's how it is for Lubna with Amir. Pebble pulls friendship double-duty.
Stunning illustrations, nay Art, steal the show. Subtle story-telling. What more could you want? This also reminds me of my favorite picture on refugees, Four Feet, Two Sandals. Read them both.
July 2, 2021
Lubna's family is on the move. So, she has to make her own friends. Quite literally. Pebble keeps her company. Pebble listens to her fears. And with Pebble there is always someone to play with. Human friends are wonderful too, but you may miss them when they are gone. Perhaps everyone needs an excellent listener like Pebble around.
March 11, 2019
A moving account of a child’s experience of friendship in the transitory world of a refugee camp, this is a perfect book to explore a number of issues without seeming preachy, with a well-paced text and pictures that show the world from the right size for a small person to identify with. The little girl finds meaning in the pebble she adopts, and she makes a human friend, too, in the traumatised boy to whom she grows close. But what will happen when it’s time to move on?
March 19, 2019
A humbling take on the refugee story. When Lubna and her father are displaced, she seeks comfort, stability, and belonging in a pebble she finds. I love all this represents. As a stone, shell, and sand collector myself, bringing a piece of the lands I visit home with me builds a strong connection for me back to those places. In a place that is only temporary for Lubna, she’s holds tightly to this constant.
March 6, 2020
Another Issue book, but unlike the lovely THE SUITCASE, this is very plainly an Issue book. But it's very sweet and won me over after my "oh no, not this again" reaction towards the first few pages.
September 21, 2020
Lubna is a young girl who is searching for a safe place with her father. This book provides a very child friendly way of learning about refugees using more familiar language, for example, ‘a world of tents’. Lubna has lots of worries which she tells to a pebble her father gave her, this makes her feel much better. After making a friend and then leaving the camp, Lubna gives the pebble to Amir to help him with his worries. This is a powerful and beautiful story of friendship, family, support and love. I like how the first and last pages of the book are the same but one with Lubna holding the pebble and the last with Amir. This shows the continuity of refugees and as one child finds safety another is still looking. This book would act as a good resource to teaching about refugees to younger children in KS1 and year 3. I would use this book alongside PSHE sessions to ensure there was enough time for discussions and exploring children’s questions. The story may also encourage children to share their worries with someone they trust as well as discussions about how this can help them to feel better.
January 7, 2020
Beautiful artwork matches an emotional story as we witness a young girl named Lubna leaving home and living in a world of tents. Lubna’s best friend is a pebble that she talks to when she’s lonely or scared. One day she meets a young boy named Amir, and now has two friends. But what will happen when it’s time for the children to be separated? While the story doesn’t explicitly say so, it appears to be about the experience of young children in a refugee camp. This one will encourage much better understanding and empathy for the fear and alienation many children feel when they are driven from their home and lack connection.
For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!
For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!
September 11, 2019
A heart-wrenching story about a little refugee girl named Lubna who finds much-needed comfort in a pebble -- aptly named Pebble -- that she calls her friend. Lubna learns the meaning of real friendship when a new boy arrives at the camp, friendless and scared as she once was. OH MY GOD I'M GONNA CRY!
December 30, 2019
A beautifully illustrated book tackling the refugee crisis and how it affects children.
November 6, 2023
A sensitive and emotional peek at how children cope and find beauty in the midst of hardship.
Read
March 2, 2022This is a helluva lot better than most "woe is the refugee, but look how noble and self-sacrificing and resourceful they are with their pile of nothing!" books. I love that it's just a very little kid thing to do--find a pebble and decide it's your friend and security object--and it happens to be a refugee who's doing it. Yet it is also very open to kids asking questions about why Lubna finds herself in the place she's in without demanding they do so to nor leading them to see themselves in the position of savior or graciously sympathetic.
August 29, 2019
Right in the feels!
November 24, 2019
A small and poignant glance into the lives of refugee children. Simultaneously painful and uplifting.
April 9, 2019
Pebble, with its drawn-on eyes and smile, is Lubna’s best friend as they sailed to and arrived at the World of Tents (aka Refugee settlement). Even as her father keeps her close and warm and safe, Lubna keeps Pebble close, warm and safe. Between the two, she seems content. Pebble listens to Lubna’s stories with a comforting smile. Her father is a near constant: close-by, holding her, often smiling. His presence makes the loneliness of Amir’s arrival seem all the more stark.
When Amir arrives to the World of Tents, Lubna will explore and play with him, but Pebble is still her best friend. But once it is time to leave, maybe the boy, Amir, could use Pebble’s friendship more. It is such a generous fare-thee-well gift; the exchange is marvelously sweet.
The wide-eyed close up of Lubna admiring her newly found pebble is echoed with Amir; so is her “hello.” There are a number of echoes and a few thematic elements. Egnéus incorporates a lot of plant imagery into the scenes. When Amir arrives, spread out on the ground before him is pomegranate tree in the monochrome of shadows; when we see this rendering again, the tree is in color. Upon arrival, his arms were folded at his chest, empty; the second image has him cradling Pebble in its box. Plant life lurks with in vivid hues at the edges and within the expanse of things–a metaphor for human life and resilience. We see plant life appear vibrant against a night sky, even as the two children are silhouettes at play. The plants appear underwater, us amongst them looking upward.
The angle of the illustrations is an intriguing choice. We are most often either at level or looking upward toward Lubna (just shorter than her). There are few overhead. We are kept to some distance, but always close enough and never superior in perspective. I wonder at how this suits the gentle tone the author brings; the angles certainly emphasize the expressive postures of the characters. The rich blue and green tones are soothing; you’re reminded how warm they are when the wintry scenes come to call.
Lubna and Pebble is a beautiful in color and texture and expression. Meddour will not wax eloquent in order to create emotional impact, she just places her short sentences carefully and chooses her words just as thoughtfully. The absences are noted. For example, Lubna speaks of brothers, but where are they? Why was she arriving on a beach at night? Note the word choices here: Lubna “clutches” her Daddy’s hand and “grips” the pebble; no holding or cradling or hugging. After arriving in a World of Tents, Meddor starts this sentence—”she knew they’d keep her safe”—with “somehow.” There was nothing in the world she’d awoken to that suggests she should feel as safe as she does in that moment; that she could be so certain as to just “know.” The sentence is further complicated in how it follows the sentence where Lubna “clutches” and “grips”…she can’t let go or any certainty or safety will be completely lost to her. Her stability is reliant upon her Daddy and Pebble—which, of course makes her generous gift all the more moving at the end.
Where at the beginning we notice how Lubna is often curled inward, we see her opening in posture and limb with the presence of Amir; until she is handing him a box with the pebble. He holds it “tight.” Lubna is sharing what she can with someone she can empathize with, someone she has come to care for—and it is no small thing, even if it is the size of a pebble. And you are grateful he has it when that final page comes. You are grateful for them both.
https://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/2...
When Amir arrives to the World of Tents, Lubna will explore and play with him, but Pebble is still her best friend. But once it is time to leave, maybe the boy, Amir, could use Pebble’s friendship more. It is such a generous fare-thee-well gift; the exchange is marvelously sweet.
The wide-eyed close up of Lubna admiring her newly found pebble is echoed with Amir; so is her “hello.” There are a number of echoes and a few thematic elements. Egnéus incorporates a lot of plant imagery into the scenes. When Amir arrives, spread out on the ground before him is pomegranate tree in the monochrome of shadows; when we see this rendering again, the tree is in color. Upon arrival, his arms were folded at his chest, empty; the second image has him cradling Pebble in its box. Plant life lurks with in vivid hues at the edges and within the expanse of things–a metaphor for human life and resilience. We see plant life appear vibrant against a night sky, even as the two children are silhouettes at play. The plants appear underwater, us amongst them looking upward.
The angle of the illustrations is an intriguing choice. We are most often either at level or looking upward toward Lubna (just shorter than her). There are few overhead. We are kept to some distance, but always close enough and never superior in perspective. I wonder at how this suits the gentle tone the author brings; the angles certainly emphasize the expressive postures of the characters. The rich blue and green tones are soothing; you’re reminded how warm they are when the wintry scenes come to call.
Lubna and Pebble is a beautiful in color and texture and expression. Meddour will not wax eloquent in order to create emotional impact, she just places her short sentences carefully and chooses her words just as thoughtfully. The absences are noted. For example, Lubna speaks of brothers, but where are they? Why was she arriving on a beach at night? Note the word choices here: Lubna “clutches” her Daddy’s hand and “grips” the pebble; no holding or cradling or hugging. After arriving in a World of Tents, Meddor starts this sentence—”she knew they’d keep her safe”—with “somehow.” There was nothing in the world she’d awoken to that suggests she should feel as safe as she does in that moment; that she could be so certain as to just “know.” The sentence is further complicated in how it follows the sentence where Lubna “clutches” and “grips”…she can’t let go or any certainty or safety will be completely lost to her. Her stability is reliant upon her Daddy and Pebble—which, of course makes her generous gift all the more moving at the end.
Where at the beginning we notice how Lubna is often curled inward, we see her opening in posture and limb with the presence of Amir; until she is handing him a box with the pebble. He holds it “tight.” Lubna is sharing what she can with someone she can empathize with, someone she has come to care for—and it is no small thing, even if it is the size of a pebble. And you are grateful he has it when that final page comes. You are grateful for them both.
https://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/2...
August 18, 2019
A bit romantic, but a lovely story of friendship. Unique illustrations both realistic and smidgen abstract. Grand colors
March 14, 2019
This beautifully illustrated story of friendship and sharing will really tug at heartstrings. But the stories of vulnerable people that have lost nearly everything, especially refugees fleeing from war and violence, really need to be shared. Young readers will certainly be able to relate to the little girl with her father, feeling scared and alone, and sharing those feelings with a friend. At first the girl finds a friend in a pebble, but then she finds a friend in Amir. Her friend, Amir, is struggling with the same hopelessness that she felt when she first arrived at the World of Tents. But when it's time to move on, Lubna's simple act of generosity speaks volumes. This book could be shared as part of a larger discussion of refugees and the struggles of those who have to flee their homes and countries because of violence.
January 1, 2021
I loved this book, I thought it talked well about refugees with lower and upper key stage two , the feelings they experience and how Lubna used a pebble to help. This could be used to talk about emotions that children in the class experience and what they could do to help them cope in different situations. When Lubna shared the pebble to help Amir it was a lovely moment, it would be a great way to talk about friendship and helping each other in PSHE.
September 8, 2018
When Lubna and her father reach the shore of a new home, she finds a pebble on the beach she becomes attached to. She tells her pebble everything, and Pebble becomes her closest friend. Lubna and Pebble is a beautiful story of how small things can bring us comfort in difficult times, and how we can pass on these comforts to others who need it, too. Gorgeous illustrations in calming colors.
March 20, 2019
Tears were definitely streaming down my face as I turned the pages of this at my desk.
Gorgeous illustrations, simple text, and a timely, beautiful message. One of my favorite picture books of the year, hands-down.
Gorgeous illustrations, simple text, and a timely, beautiful message. One of my favorite picture books of the year, hands-down.
October 22, 2020
I love this book! The theme of friendship, hope and resilience shines through in the illustrations and text. Lubna’s pebble provides a safe and reassuring presence in what seems to be an unknowing situation. The tents, boats and mention of war hint towards a darker setting that Lubna is in.
September 8, 2019
Beautiful and touching story to add to the collection on refugee experiences. A bit predictable in plot, but powerful nonetheless.
April 1, 2019
Could I give this book 6 stars? Book about being a refugee from the child's point of view. This book made me cry. Loved it so much!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 477 reviews