Review of "Stormy Sailing" by Tuula Pere, PhD

​Score: 94+/100 (9.4+ out of 10)

Brace yourself to hold back your tears. This book is not or the faint at heart.

Stormy Sailing by Tuula Pere is an emotionally-charged children's book that follows the plight of an immigrant/refugee family fleeing their war-torn homeland.

Pere is no stranger to presenting us with heart wrenching children's books like The Only Blue Crow (exploring loneliness and depression) and even books that explore terminal illness like the Welcome Home Pearl series and The Shoemaker's Lamp. Yet, somehow this hits differently. This cuts differently.

And we think we know why.

When you look at the wars erupting around the world today—Israel-Palestine/Israel-Iran, Ukraine-Russia, India-Pakistan, etc.—nothing is more emotionally crushing than the human toll of these wars. Despite these wars largely being fought for historical, cultural, military, and political reasons, it's often the innocent people on the ground—the people without weapons or political power—who suffer the most.

Their homes and businesses are destroyed. Their lives are upended.
They have nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help.

Compounding this is the massive immigration crisis going on around the world right now. We're seeing it on the Egyptian border. We're seeing it in places like the UK and the USA. There are two extremes that the different political powers can't seem to agree on: one extreme letting everyone in, the other extreme keeping everyone (and getting everyone) out.

We're sympathetic and understand different sides of the debate. You need immigration laws and secure borders to maintain your sovereignty and be sustainable as a nation. However, as human beings, we should also be compassionate and understanding, willing to accept legitimate refugees. And there are legitimate refugees with asylum claims: good people who want nothing better to be safe, secure, and live a better life for themselves and their families.

You can't be the shelter of the world, but you can help to alleviate the suffering in the world.
It doesn't need to be either/or.

Few books present this better than Stormy Sailing.

This book follows a little boy named Liban who comes from a war-torn land that is never disclosed. Perhaps this is done intentionally to make it as universally applicable and relevant as possible. It could by Syria. It could be Palestine. It could be Sudan. It could be Yemen. It could be Lebanon. It could be anywhere where families are torn apart by conflict and forced to make impossible decisions just to survive. By omitting specifics, Stormy Sailing transforms Liban’s journey into a symbol—a representation of every displaced child, every desperate parent, and every family that has had to choose between danger and despair.

Tuula Pere doesn’t try to offer solutions to war, nor does she moralize or politicize the suffering. Instead, she offers something more powerful: empathy. Through gentle prose and heartfelt imagery, she invites us to see the world through the eyes of a child who has never known peace, who has never had a home, and yet who dares to dream of one.

The story reminds us that while we may not be able to rescue every Liban, we can recognize them. We can listen. We can care. And sometimes, caring is the first act of shelter.

Stormy Sailing is not just a story about migration or hardship. It is a testament to the quiet heroism of parents, the strength of children, and the simple but radical idea that love endures even in the most turbulent of seas.

Going back to the idea of how universally-applicable this book is...

Heck, there are aspects of this story that remind us of Cuban immigrants in the past who've crossed treacherous waters on makeshift rafts, driven by desperation and hope. It echoes the stories of Vietnamese boat people, of Afghans trekking overland with nothing but willpower, of Eritrean families fleeing through deserts and seas for even the chance of peace.

The moment when Liban and Dad decide to let Little Sister and Mom go ahead on the boat because they can't afford to come along is one of the most heartbreaking scenes we've ever read.

Thankfully, it's assuaged by the Dad using his boat-building skills to salvage a sailboat out of makeshift parts, but—like any good story—there are ups and downs.

Dad tells Liban: "...sailing is like life. We can’t always go as straight as we’d like to."

The prospect of Liban and Dad surviving the approaching storm on their makeshift raft is one of the tensest moments we've read about this year! Remember: characters have passed away in Tuula Pere books before. Not every Pere book has a happy ending.

But we can hope against all hope.
We can get behind these characters and cheer for them.

That's powerful.

Check it out on Amazon!