Junior Library Guild Selection * New York Public Library's Best Books for Teens * Goodreads Choice Awards Nonfiction Finalist * Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books for Teens: Nonfiction * 2018 Texas Topaz Nonfiction List * YALSA's 2018 Quick Picks List * Bank Street's 2018 Best Books of the Year
"This gut-wrenching, poetic memoir reminds us that no life story can be reduced to the word 'refugee.' --New York Times Book Review
"A critical piece of literature, contributing to the larger refugee narrative in a way that is complex and nuanced." --School Library Journal (starred review)
This profoundly moving memoir is the remarkable and inspiring true story of Sandra Uwiringiyimana, a girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who tells the tale of how she survived a massacre, immigrated to America, and overcame her trauma through art and activism.
Sandra was just ten years old when she found herself with a gun pointed at her head. She had watched as rebels gunned down her mother and six-year-old sister in a refugee camp. Remarkably, the rebel didn't pull the trigger, and Sandra escaped.
Thus began a new life for her and her surviving family members. With no home and no money, they struggled to stay alive. Eventually, through a United Nations refugee program, they moved to America, only to face yet another ethnic disconnect. Sandra may have crossed an ocean, but there was now a much wider divide she had to overcome. And it started with middle school in New York.
In this memoir, Sandra tells the story of her survival, of finding her place in a new country, of her hope for the future, and how she found a way to give voice to her people.
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Published: 05/16/2017
ISBN: 9780062470140
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.30w x 1.00d
Review Citations: Booklist 03/15/2017 pg. 37
School Library Journal 04/01/2017 pg. 172
Publishers Weekly 03/20/2017
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2017
Voice of Youth Advocates 06/01/2017 - Recommended - Better Than Most
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 07/01/2017
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2017 pg. 160
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2017 pg. 234 - Superior,Well Above Average
Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 190492 / How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child
Reading Level: 5.8 /
Interest Level: Upper Grade /
Point Value: 9