Review by New York Times Review
THAT THE WORLD can be a harsh place is unquestionable. For those of us who live in relative comfort, far from lands coping with brutal ethnic conflict and severe deprivation, the images of suffering are heart-wrenching, all the more when children are affected. With little or no firsthand experience of these distant places, how do we make sense of it? How do we help our children do so? For three North American writers, one answer is through literature. Known for her accomplished books featuring the African-American experience, Andrea Davis Pinkney was inspired to research and write "The Red Pencil" after learning about what was happening in Darfur, Sudan, in 2003. Through deceptively simple prose poems, she has 12-year-old Amira tell her story. Living with her father, mother and little sister on their family farm in South Darfur, the artistic Amira expresses herself in ephemeral drawings on the sand, but also yearns to learn to read and write. While her father is supportive, her more traditionally minded mother is not - it is simply not their way. A dutiful daughter, Amira goes along with her mother's wishes. But one day everything changes. Their village is brutally attacked and many are killed, among them Amira's beloved father. She and her sister and mother, along with the rest of the survivors, make a long, hard journey, both physical and emotional, to a refugee camp. There, made mute by the horrors she has experienced, Amira is given a red pencil and uses it to begin to reclaim her voice and life through the making of art. Pinkney's spare verse powerfully communicates this strong young girl's hopes and dreams even as she expresses the awfulness of what she has been through: "Words,/liked tugged teeth./Yanked/from every part of me." Scattered through the elegantly designed book are Shane W. Evans's soft gray illustrations, perfectly supporting Pinkney's text, evoking the sense that they were done by Amira herself. After a 2007 visit to Kenya, the Canadian writer Eric Walters started the Creation of Hope, an organization to support orphans in the rural Mbooni district. Since then he has written several books set in the country. In "Walking Home," inspired by real people and events, Walters places forgiveness at the center of an adventurous story of survival in the midst of ethnic conflict. Having landed in a refugee camp after a horrific event claimed their father, 13-year-old Muchoki and his younger sister Jata set off for their mother's homeland - a place and people they do not know - after she dies of malaria. During this journey of many days the resourceful children manage with the little they have, find food and safe places to sleep, cope with lions and other dangers, and are helped by many people along the way. Having visited a refugee camp, spent time with children like Muchoki and Jata and done the same walk himself, Walters brings a wonderful verisimilitude to the story, as when his child characters are told by a kind Maasai who has taken them under his protection that if an elephant chases them, they should "stop running straight and start running zaggy-zaggy." The Maasai laughs as he explains that since an elephant can't turn very well, their pursuer might tip over. Deborah Ellis, also a Canadian author, is best known for her Breadwinner series, set in Afghanistan, in which she explores children's lives under Taliban rule, especially the limitations faced by girls. In "The Cat at the Wall" she moves to the West Bank - near Bethlehem, to be exact - where the animal of the title lands after a previous life as an American teenager named Clare, who lived in Bethlehem, Pa., and died in an accident that we don't learn about until the end. The cat-that-was-Clare comments wryly on her new circumstances: "It's not right that I should escape lice when I was a girl but have to deal with fleas now that I'm a cat. People who have lice when they're alive should be the ones to get fleas in the afterlife because they already know how to deal with them." Before long she joins two Israeli soldiers who have taken over a seemingly empty house to do surveillance. When Clare leads the jittery young men to an ill and terrified hidden child she has found, they panic briefly until they realize he is not an immediate threat. The soldiers' subsequent idle chat about their own backgrounds - and their attempts, aided by Clare, to do right by the Palestinian child - makes it clear that they are all small cogs in a very big and very complicated political situation. Alternating with these increasingly tense West Bank scenes are Clare's memories of her life as an American teenager. It seems she was a heartless bully of peers and adults alike, especially one very tough teacher who refused to back down no matter how nasty Clare was. By the end, having watched the conditions in and outside the West Bank house drastically deteriorate, Clare has an epiphany about the accident that led to her own death, one that makes her see her teacher-antagonist in a new light: "Context is everything, Ms. Sealand said. Without understanding context, we are going to keep getting things wrong." Without editorializing, Ellis's suspenseful and thought-provoking novel offers a touching, humane context for one of the world's most intractable situations. In order to hope that the future will be different, we have to find ways to help the young people of today do better than previous generations. These authors have found a place to start, creating sensitive mirrors into distant tragedies. Their books will encourage in young readers a desire to understand the plight of less fortunate others who happen to be far away. MONICA EDINGER, a fourth-grade teacher in New York City, is the author of "Africa Is My Home : A Child of the Amistad." She blogs at Educating Alice.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 2, 2014]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* As Amira's twelfth birthday approaches, she finds herself distracted from her daily responsibilities on the family farm: doing chores; looking after her little sister, Leila, who was born with special needs; and caring for her little lamb, Nali. She dreams of school, but that is not the traditional way for girls in Sudan. Life is hard, with scarce food, distant water, and the looming obligation of marriage and motherhood. Still, she scratches out her thoughts and dreams in the dirt with a precious twig, wishing. Then the Janjaweed arrive and decimate the village in an attack that kills her father and Nali. After the remaining family members and their friend Old Anwar relocate to a refugee camp, Amira's spirit is sorely tested, but the gift of a pad and a red pencil restores her sense of agency and offers the promise of learning. Pinkney's short, clipped verse expresses the harsh difficulties and intimate beauties of daily life dust storms, orange soda, family devotion in broken lines that capture Amira's breathless anxiety and hope. And if the evocative poetry is the novel's beating heart, Evans' spare, open, graceful line drawings are its breath, recalling Amira's own linear musings, drawn on the ground or in her own tablet. Ultimately, this is an inspirational story of the harrowing adversity countless children face, the resilience with which they meet it, and the inestimable power of imagination and learning to carry them through.--Barthelmess, Thom Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Starred Review. Told in free verse and set in the South Darfur region of Sudan in 2003 and 2004, this potent novel from Pinkney (Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America) is built around the distinctive voice and drawings of 12-year-old narrator Amira. The first half of the novel examines Amira's life in her rural village, where she helps out with farm chores, wishes she could attend school, and has a close relationship with her father, Dando, who sees what is possible in me. After Janjaweed militants invade, inflicting great loss, Amira flees to a refugee camp, where she expresses her creativity through art, after a teacher gives her the pencil of the title. Evans's (We March) loosely drawn and deeply affecting line illustrations heighten Amira's emotional reality; in one image, accompanying the poem Shock, a simple figure surrounded by a violently scribbled border demonstrates Amira's despair: My whole heart./ A sudden break./ My Bright,/ turned black. Pinkney faces war's horrors head on, yet also conveys a sense of hope and promise. Ages 9--up. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Set during the early years of the Darfur conflict, this stunning collaboration between Coretta Scott King Award winners Pinkney and Evans tells a moving story of the scarring effects of war but also brings a message of hope and inspiration. Twelve-year-old Amira wishes to attend school, but her mother, "born into a flock of women/locked in a hut of tradition," does not support the girl's aspirations and expects her to only marry and bear children. In contrast, Amira's father praises her talents and gifts her with a special "turning-twelve twig" that she uses to sketch her dreams in the goz (sand). These dreams are brutally shattered when the Janjaweed militants invade and cut a swath of terror through her village. After enduring a heartbreaking loss, Amira and her family must rally their strength in order to make the treacherous journey to the Kalma refugee camp. There, the girl is given a red pencil; this simple gift reveals a world of endless possibilities and imbues the tween with a strong sense of agency. Amira's thoughts and drawings are vividly brought to life through Pinkney's lyrical verse and Evans's lucid line illustrations, which infuse the narrative with emotional intensity. An engaging author note provides background on the political situation in Sudan and explains the powerful motivations for telling this story. An essential purchase that pairs well with Sylvia Whitman's The Milk of Birds (S. & S., 2013).-Lalitha Nataraj, Escondido Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
The first part of this vivid novel, set from September 2003 to March 2004, celebrates twelve-year-old Amira's life on her family farm in Darfur, Sudan. Her first-person prose poems and lively childlike sketches focus on her Muma and Dando and little sister Leila; her friend Halima who leaves the village to attend school; her favorite sheep Nali; and the other elements that make up her world: wheat and tomatoes, sparrows and the wind storm called the haboob. But whispers of the Janjaweed (Sudanese militia) infect even this happy childhood, and in a violent attack, everything changes. Dando is dead, Nali is dead, and Amira and her family become refugees, traveling by night to a displaced persons camp. Life there is marked by deprivation, and Amira's voice becomes choked off by the violence she witnessed. But when an aid worker gives Amira a red pencil and a tablet of paper, Amira's drawings find a way to lead her out of sorrow and back to life. Pinkney's verse uses onomatopoeia, rhythm, and prismatic imagery to describe Amira's feelings. Evans's illustrations keep on the spare side but provide valuable visual context and a much-needed sense of buoyancy. Throughout, text and drawings make Amira's experiences seem real to young readers without overwhelming them, allowing them to share in her hardship and eventual renewal. Back matter includes an author's note, glossary, and pronunciation guide. anita l. burkam (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A 12-year-old Sudanese girl struggles for survival after a janjaweed attack on her town forces her family to seek safety in an overcrowded refugee camp. Amira Bright has a dream: to leave her South Darfur farm and attend Gad Primary School, where girls are accepted. Muma, her mother, is a traditionalist about girls' roles, while Dando, her father, and Old Anwar, a lifelong neighbor, are more supportive. Dando and Amira even have a favorite game called "What Else is Possible?" But when militia attackers suddenly upend her life, Amira is overcome with silent heartache. Relief comes when an aid worker at Kalma refugee camp offers her a yellow pad and a red pencil, eventually restoring her free expression. Telling her story in first-person verse, Pinkney uses deft strokes to create engaging characters through the poetry of their observations and the poignancy of their circumstances. This tale of displacement in a complex, war-torn country is both accessible and fluent, striking just the right tone for middle-grade readers. Evans' elemental drawings illuminate the spirit and yearnings of Amira, the earnest protagonist. A soulful story that captures the magic of possibility, even in difficult times. (author's note, illustrator's note, glossary) (Verse fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
