Publisher: Sandpiper
Pages: 128 pages
Source:
Purchased
Genre:
Middle Grade, Realistic and Historical Fiction
I love reading books that are based on real
events. This is the story of two people
from two different time periods, whose lives cross paths. The story of these two people is told in
alternating chapters.
Sudan has always been a hotbed of controversy and
war. Innocent people are constantly
caught in the crossfire. The majority of
them are children. Salva Dut, eleven
years old, is one of those children. They become known as the “Lost Boys”. It is the 1980’s and he is at school when his
village comes under attack. The teacher hears
the gunfire and sends the children running into the forest. They travel across the desert to a refuge
camp in Ethiopia. After an extended
stay they once again cross the desert to Kenya.
Many of them don’t make it. They
die of hunger, animal attacks, and attacks from soldiers. Once in Kenya Salva begins to learn some English.
He is one of many chosen to travel to America to live with an adoptive family.
The other character in this book is Nya and takes
place in 2008. She like many other young
people don’t go to school. She spends
her day traveling several hours each way to bring water home to her
family. She must do this in the morning
and in the afternoon. She and Salva both
lived in Sudan but in separate tribes that don’t get along. It is her tribe that attacked his village
many years before.
It is after Salva graduates that things in his
country are affected by his actions. He
and Nya meet and the reader sees how their paths have crossed and why it is
important. I will be using this book in
my classroom this year and I absolutely can’t wait for my students to read
it. This is a must read for anyone
interested in learning what happens outside their own home. It causes us to look at how lucky we are to
live here in the United States.
