Making It Home - Hardcover

Beverley Naidoo is a South African author exiled from her home country in 1965, as a student campaigning against apartheid. Her first children's novel, Journey To Jo'burg, was banned in South Africa when it was published in 1985 and only became available there after Nelson Mandela's release from jail in 1991. Journey To Jo'burg was published in many other countries around the world and was widely praised for its eloquent, moving, and accessible story. Her later novel, The Other Side of Truth, won the Carnegie Medal in 2000. She has written many other award-winning books for children. Naidoo lives in the UK.

Grade 4 Up–These brief narratives by young people escaping their war-torn lands and lives are significant because while only 20 voices are presented here, Beverley Naidoos introduction states that more than 20 million children and their families have been forced to leave their homes to escape from the effects of war in recent years. Narrators from Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Liberia, Sudan, and Burundi reveal the injustices of their lives, forced by fate to have anything but normal childhoods. A short introduction precedes each narrative or set of narratives and gives the history of the countrys conflict, providing much-needed background information. The selections were written by children as young as 6, with most of them by teenagers, up to 17. The pain of their experiences is raw; losing a parent or siblings changes their view of the world, and yet, despite it all, the universal feeling is one of hope for the future. The contributors have little to fear, having survived the worst. A centerfold features full-color photos of several of the young people.–Alexa Sandmann, Kent State University, OH
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