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Brothers In Hope

Publication Information

Author: Williams, Mary

Illustrator: Christie, R. Gregory

Title: Brothers In Hope

Date: 2005

Publisher: Lee & Low

City: New York

ISBN, paperback: 1-58430-232-1

ISBN, hardback:

Recommended audience:

ABE/ABLE: Yes

ESOL:

Family:

Young Adult:

Picture: Yes

General Information:

Book Type(s): true story, memoirs/reminiscences

HSE Descriptor(s): social studies

Summary:

The author, who worked with the International Rescue Committee, tells the story of the "lost boys" of Sudan, orphaned by war, who walked to refuge in Ethiopia, and later to Kenya. The first person narrative and vibrant illustrations add immediacy to the hardships and the human spirit.

Teaching Ideas:

Pair this book with When I Left My Village by Maxine Rose Shur about child refugees attempting to escape war or with Under the Sun by Arthur Dorros and Tree Girl by Ben Michaelsen about life in refugee camps. Readers might explore the social organization adopted by the boys and how it helped them survive physically and mentally. Many communities such as Cleveland, OH, have immigrants from Sudan who might be interviewed for a classroom magazine. Readers could use an atlas to figure approximately how many miles the boys traveled. A central question to discuss/write about is the motivation to persevere. Keeping a reading log might help keep track of this. Since little is said about the war itself, interested readers could research the history of this region since World War II, its wars and famines and especially the current genocide in the Darfur region.

Teaching Strategies: