This book is a dual perspective from Salva who is the main character and Nia. This is about life in the 1980s and south Sudan when the Civil War was going on. Salva was used to being part of a farming family, he would take care of the cattle and occasionally go hunting with his siblings. One day at school, they heard gunshots and the teacher told him to run into the bush because they didn’t want them to be recruited as child soldiers. It’s about Salva walking through the desert with others and eventually, he eventually meets up with his uncle by chance. His uncle is in a group of these adults that are just walking, trying to get away from the war and the hardships, they go through the days without water and food as they cross over the desert. Eventually, they make it to a refugee camp in Ethiopia and get turned away from there. They have to walk to another refugee camp in Kenya and eventually he makes it to the United States. Salva is adopted into a family in New York and goes on to do incredible things with his life. He later goes back to Sudan and starts up a program for plain clean water to villages like the one he grew up in. I was reading a different novel and I picked this one up while I was boiling some water for my tea and I couldn’t put it down. It's really simple but the writing in the story itself is just to the point. It’s so powerful and I can recommend it for a good and short read. I highly recommend it.

Review by: Abril Delgadillo

Abril is a junior, virtually volunteering at the Lincoln Heights Branch. She likes to play sports, watch television shows, and run.

—Kelcey Soderstrom, Young Adult Librarian, Lincoln Heights Branch Library