by Moe Zilla

Created on: October 13, 2010

"When Papa left to join the underground, Marina cried."

That's the first line of "Gleam and Glow", a story about refugees from a war-torn village. The second page is filled with the enormous yellow flame from the village's burning homes. "Our enemies were coming," writes Eve Bunting, "sweeping through villages like great brooms, forcing people out and burning their homes."

"Every day we heard distant gunshots and saw smoke rise into the faraway skies..."

The book was inspired by real-life events, according to an author's note at the back of the book. "There is a village called Jezzero in Bosnia-Herzegovina," Bunting explains. A villager released two goldfish into the lake near their home before fleeing in 1990 - and when his family returned in 1995, the lake was filled with shiny golden fish. The touching story brought people to the village, who purchased the goldfish - which helped to rebuild the village. Bunting created "Glean and Glow" to tell the "true and magical story" of the lake - and says the story is for people "who have been forced from the lives they have known, and who find hope in the most unexpected places."

The story shares a child's innocent perspective on their journey to the camp for refugees - along with the people they meet who are facing the same challenges. A boy arrives with his family on a tractor, along with a dog which he's trained to do tricks. Others pass through and share the family's food, while telling horrible stories about the soldiers. But in Bunting's story, it's a passing stranger who offers the children his two goldfish. "An extra day or two of life is as important to a fish as it is to us."

Peter Sylvada drew the realistic watercolors for the book, and he combines careful lighting with soft-edged shapes to give the pictures a welcome hint of abstraction. There's many dark brown backgrounds to suggest the constant dread that's hanging over the refugees, and there's one uncluttered illustration with the child at the center, adding symbolism to the way he stops to worry worrying about the fish. He wishes the goldfish luck, then adds, "We would need good luck, too." And then he releases the fish into the pond by their home.

After much walking, there's a cheer, and they cross the border where there's a camp with tents. There were other children to play with, and the children are reunited with their father. One night they join hands and dance around the fire. When they return home after many months, there's just a black frame where their house had been, under an angry dusk that's red and brown.

And that's when the children discover their pond is filled with shimmering goldfish.

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