Vanishing Colors — Constance Orbeck-Nilssen

A haunting, poignant story about refugees

As a young girl and her mother take shelter for the night in their war-torn city, the whole world appears muted and dark. When the girl wakes in the middle of the night to find a bird watching her, she knows it's the one from her mother's stories, who flies down from the mountains to protect people from harm. She tells the bird what her life used to be like, before the war and destruction -- she describes her favorite dress, the open market stalls, her dad playing music on the roof. As she continues to remember, colors slowly seep back into her life, and with them comes the courage to hope for a new beginning.

This evocative story is a wonderful conversation starter about an important and timely topic.