A Hopes and Dreams Historical Novel. Easy to read for beginning readers, middle school to adult, building literacy skills and/or ESL. It was 2011. The Najjar family, Jamal, with his wife Farah, his teen-aged daughter Amala, and three young sons, fled from Aleppo, Syria, just in time their home was destroyed. First they went to his uncle's home in Jordan, and then after five years in a refugee camp, they were able to come to Texas. Faced with prejudice and then a hurricane, they had to work hard to adjust to their new home, but they did, with the support of their neighbor, Marisol, and their new community. Hard to put down, fast paced. A celebration of America s diversity and most of all an engaging story with characters based on real history. Provides structured reading practice for developing reading skills and lots of useful vocabulary. - from Amzon