Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed, illustrated by Doug Chayka.

This powerful picture book is a finalist in the Cybil Awards.  It is the story of two young girls living in a refugee camp in Peshawar on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Relief workers bring used clothes to the camp and Lina discovers a brand new sandal, bright yellow with a blue flower, but only one sandal, not a pair.  When Lina looks up, she sees another girl wearing the other half of the sandal pair.  The girls eventually speak together and start sharing the sandals, each wearing the pair for a day.  The sharing brings the girls closer together and they become friends.  Then one of the girls is lucky enough to leave for America, and the sharing of the sandals serves as a symbol of their friendship in the future.

The writing here is direct, simple and therefore powerful.  The destitution of the refugee camps is obvious in both the words and the illustrations, but neither are afraid to also show the humanity, the connections and the strange beauty of them as well.  At times the message of the book is a bit too strong, I think some of it could have been done with a gentler touch.  But the message is also an important one to have children understand the state of refugees in the world.

A good book to start discussions about war and its impact on children, it is appropriate for ages 7-11.