One day, while he is in the park, Mustafa draws a picture of an airplane in the dirt. He then draws the house he used to live in and other things he remembers from his old home. As a class, examine this page and identify what he has drawn. Based on his drawings, what was life like for Mustafa? What sort of experiences do students think he had? When the girl-with-the-cat, Maria, arrives, what pictures does she draw? Why do the things she draws differ from what Mustafa drew? What is the author hoping to tell the reader by having Maria draw butterflies and flowers over Mustafa’s drawings of explosions and broken trees? Does it provide a preview of how this new home might help change Mustafa’s view of the world?
