This is a remarkable, eye-opening, horizon-broadening book. Fourteen year old Nawra lives in a refugee camp in Darfur, Sudan. With the exception of her mother, her entire family was brutalized/killed by notorious Janjaweed raiders. Nawra herself was raped. A non-profit organization, Save the Girls, pairs her with an American, K.C., a teenager from Richmond, VA, who hate reading, writing, and school. Nawra has never learned to read or write and yet the two exchange letters and stories. The story of how this came about, and how the experience changed lives is truly heart-warming, inspiring, and thought-provoking.
"Our wasted days are the days we never laugh."
"When you think you are too small to make a difference, you should try sleeping in a closed hut with a mosquito."
"People are kind of a combination of the body and the story, and while you can't change the body, you can change the story."
"He who sees other's misfortunes, finds his own disaster lighter."
"A doer is never a great talker."
"A book needs a reader as well as a writer."
Gateway Award Preliminary Nominee 2015-16
No comments:
Post a Comment