Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of the Sudan (Coretta Scott King Honor - Illustrator Honor Title) - Hardcover

Mary Williams; R. Gregory Christie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1584302321 ISBN 13: 9781584302322

Publisher: Lee & Low Books, 2013

Synopsis

Eight-year-old Garang, orphaned by a civil war in Sudan, finds the inner strength to help lead other boys as they trek thousands of miles seeking safety in Ethiopia, then Kenya, and finally in the United States.

About this title

About the Author:

Mary Williams has lived throughout the United States and Africa. She has held positions with several humanitarian organizations, including the International Rescue Committee and UNESCO. In 2000, Williams created the Lost Boys Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness about The Lost Boys and organizing resources to help them. She is the adopted daughter of Jane Fonda and a trustee of The Fonda Family Foundation. Williams lives in Atlanta, Georgia. This is her first book.

R. Gregory Christie received his fine arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and has illustrated several books for LEE & LOW (see titles to the right). A three time recipient of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award, Christie lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can see more of his work at www.gas-art.com

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-5–During the mid-1980s, Sudan was embroiled in civil war in which over two million lives were lost. Williams bases this fictional picture book on the harrowing, real-life experiences of a band of approximately 30,000 southern Sudanese boys, between the ages of 8 and 15, who walked nearly 1000 miles searching for a safe refuge. Eight-year-old Garang Deng, one of the leaders, tells his story. Traveling by night, foraging for food, plagued by violence, hunger, illness, and death, the journey is a perilous one. They finally make it to a refugee camp in Ethiopia where they meet an American named Tom who helps them. But fighting comes to Ethiopia, and once again the boys must flee, this time to Kenya. Tom is there to help. He takes down Garang's story and tells him he will take the story to the U.S. to try to find some help for them. With Tom's departure, life in the camps is very difficult, yet most boys manage to survive. When the man finally returns, Garang, now 21, asks, "Where have you been, Tom? Did you forget about us?" He explains that he has been spreading the news about the boys' plight, and now the U.S. is offering them a home. Christie's distinctive acrylic illustrations, done in broad strokes of predominantly green, yellow, and burnt orange, are arresting in their combination of realism and the abstract, and reflect the harshness yet hopeful nature of the landscape and the situation. An afterword tells what happened once 3800 of the boys resettled in America. This important profile in courage is one that belongs in most collections.– Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
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About this edition

• Publisher: Lee & Low Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1584302321
• ISBN 13: 9781584302322
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Gregory Christie