A camera in the hands of a displaced child is more than a tool for recording: It becomes a way of seeing. In Journal of a Young Refugee there are photographs of delicious oranges, street games, notes about schoolyard crushes, and playful poses in cool sunglasses – in short, we find hope and curiosity amidst the dislocation and constraint. This confronts what we as adults perceive as a backdrop of inevitable grief.

At the heart of the book is a collection of photographs and writings in Arabic and English by Syrian refugee children in Baalbek, near the Lebanon–Syria border, created during a series of workshops in 2012. Readers encounter candid reflections on aspirations despite upheaval, alongside images filled with longing, love, and a desire for home. New framing chapters place these narratives within the broader context of Syrian displacement. Particularly moving are interviews with several children who participated in the original project, conducted a decade later.

Powerful and profound, this gorgeous book is, in the words of Hicham Kayed, “a chronicle of a challenging and creative journey to a place where dreams are safe again.”