{"id":453,"date":"2009-05-12T23:04:58","date_gmt":"2009-05-13T03:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/12\/review-of-home-of-the-brave-by-katherine-applegate\/"},"modified":"2010-02-16T23:35:43","modified_gmt":"2010-02-17T03:35:43","slug":"review-of-home-of-the-brave-by-katherine-applegate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=453","title":{"rendered":"Review of Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"home_of_the_brave.jpg\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Home of the Brave<\/em><\/p>\n

by Katherine Applegate<\/p>\n

Square Fish (Feiwel and Friends), 2007.\u00a0 267 pages.<\/p>\n

Starred review.<\/p>\n

Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010<\/a>: #1 Other Children’s Fiction<\/p>\n

Kek has come to Minnesota in winter from his home in Sudan.\u00a0 War has made him lose everything — his father, his brother, his home, and their family’s cows.\u00a0 He last saw his mother in the refugee camp before the soldiers came there, too.\u00a0 He is staying with his aunt and Ganwar, his older cousin who came to America before him.\u00a0 They too lost their family and home, and Ganwar lost a hand to the war.<\/p>\n

To say that winter in Minnesota is different from anything Kek has ever known before is an understatement.\u00a0 The cold is like claws on his skin.\u00a0 The brightness of the snow burns his eyes.\u00a0 He tries to help his aunt by cleaning her dishes in what people call the washing machine.\u00a0 No one told him that machine was only for clothes.<\/p>\n

But then Kek sees something he does understand — a cow, old and neglected.\u00a0 The owner is old herself and isn’t sure she can keep her farm, but while she does, Kek can help.<\/p>\n

Kek’s story is beautiful and lyrical.\u00a0 We see the strange new world through his eyes, and see his\u00a0inspiring ability\u00a0to hold onto hope.\u00a0 Kek’s optimism in the face of overwhelming difficulties uplifts everyone around him, even the cow.\u00a0 And the reader will find his story uplifting as well.<\/p>\n

When Kek does get discouraged, when the difficulties seem insurmountable, we are pulling for him with all our hearts.<\/p>\n

I like Kek’s voice, simple but lyrical.\u00a0 Here is a little section:<\/p>\n

“The next week,<\/p>\n

my ESL class takes a field trip to the zoo.<\/p>\n

Field trip<\/em> is another English trick,<\/p>\n

like raining cats and dogs<\/em><\/p>\n

and a barrel of laughs<\/em><\/p>\n

because there is no field<\/p>\n

and it’s not a far trip<\/p>\n

like the one I took from Africa.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We take a yellow bus.<\/p>\n

When we get to the zoo,<\/p>\n

we must stand in line to get our tickets.<\/p>\n

The other kids complain,<\/p>\n

but I am used to lines.<\/p>\n

One day in the refugee camp<\/p>\n

I stood in line for nine hours<\/p>\n

to get a handful of corn.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“At last a guiding lady walks us past<\/p>\n

birds and lizards,<\/p>\n

fish and butterflies,<\/p>\n

zebras and elephants.<\/p>\n

We’re looking for animals<\/p>\n

from our homelands….<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We are supposed to be watching the animals,<\/p>\n

but I can’t stop looking at the people<\/p>\n

looking at all the animals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“A class of little children<\/p>\n

laughs at the pigs<\/p>\n

rolling happily in the cold mud.<\/p>\n

Their class looks like our class,<\/p>\n

or maybe we look like them:<\/p>\n

many colors and shapes<\/p>\n

and words.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Of all the things I didn’t know<\/p>\n

about America,<\/p>\n

this is the most amazing:<\/p>\n

I didn’t know<\/p>\n

there would be so many tribes<\/p>\n

from all over the world.<\/p>\n

How could I have imagined<\/p>\n

the way they walk through the world<\/p>\n

side by side<\/p>\n

without fear,<\/p>\n

all free to gaze at the same sky<\/p>\n

with the same hopes?”<\/p>\n

This book is beautiful and inspiring, and will linger in your memory.\u00a0 It gives you a taste of the courage and hope refugees must call up simply to face each new day.<\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate Square Fish (Feiwel and Friends), 2007.\u00a0 267 pages. Starred review. Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #1 Other Children’s Fiction Kek has come to Minnesota in winter from his home in Sudan.\u00a0 War has made him lose everything — his father, his brother, his home, and their family’s cows.\u00a0 He last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,21,31,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-fiction-review","category-contemporary","category-stand-outs","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}