This book was recognised in the Picture Book category by the Georgia Children's Book Award. It was recognised in the Illustrator category by the Pura Belpre Honor for Illustration.

This book has been graded for interest at 4-8 years.

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 2008 by Rayo .

Rudy Gutierrez is an award-winning illustrator whose works have earned him a Pura Belpre Honor, Americas Book Award, Africana Book Award, and a New York Book Award. He was born in the Bronx and now lives in New Jersey. Arthur Dorros, author of many highly touted and best-selling picture books, has written his first novel. To research this book, he traveled extensively in the Balkans and lived briefly in "The Children's Village," which features prominently in the story. His previous books have been named ALA Notables, CBC-NCSS Notables, NYPL Best Books, and more. He lives in Seattle, Washington.