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What the critics are saying... The July issue of School Library Journal includes a starred review of The Storyteller's beads. Based in fact, this is an original, powerful story of two Ethiopian girls who become refugees in the 1980s. A year after her family was killed while she hid in a cave nearby, Sahay is routed from her home by her uncle, before enemies arrive to take their land. One of the Kemant people, Sahay fears the evil eye of the "Falasha". Alternating chapters introduce Rahel, a blind Beta-Israel girl who dislikes being called a Falasha, and who summons all her courage to convince her family to include her beloved grandmother on the journey they must undertake. Political events hasten the plans, and Sahay and Rahel are thrown together. After an extreme and terrifying journey, they reach a Red Cross camp in the Sudan where they search for other survivors from their region, certain they will die from sickness or malnutrition. Then Rahel learns of a plan to go to Israel, and convinces Sahay to pretend to be her sister. The story is beautifully told in words and phrases that enhance the exotic locale and situation of the two endangered girls, who are richly portrayed. Kurtz keeps the focus personal but never allows larger events to dissipate in this engrossing tale. (map, glossary, not seen) (Fiction. 8-12) -Kirkus Reviews
Gr.5-7. Two young Ethiopians grow past their antagonism in this sensitive,
from-the-heart tale of refugees fleeing a drought-and-violence-stricken land.
The only survivors of a massacred family, Sahay and her uncle set out for Sudan,
joining, to Sahay's dismay, a band of Ethiopian Jews - the Falasha, or
strangers, she has been taught to fear and despise. With them is Rahel, blind
and accompanied only by her brother. After a grueling, danger-filled journey,
the group's men are turned back at the border. The barrier between Sahay and
Rahel falls when, moved by compassion, Sahay becomes Rahel's guide until they
reach the refugee camp at Umm Rekuba. The inner strength Rahel draws from her
flute, a small bag of Ethiopian soil, and especially, her grandmother's necklace
(the stories of Queen Yehudit [Judith], Hirute [Ruth], and others are tied to
the beads) helps both girls survive the terror, despair, anger, and grief of
being uprooted. Ultimately, Sahay realizes that Rahel and her people are no
longer "strangers", and they escape to Jerusalem in a clandestine Israeli
airlift. Well versed in Ethiopia's cultures and history, Kurtz brings
conditions in that strife-torn country into sharp focus - and like Frances
Temple in GRAB HANDS AND RUN (1993), Kurtz ends her penetrating story on a note
more hopeful than happy. Afterword, glossary. Related Books and Activities Many other books have been written about the experiences of children during war. One picture book that PUBLISHERS WEEKLY called "a stunning book and a forceful argument for peace" for all ages is ROSE BLANCHE by Roberto Innocenti (Harcourt) ISBN #0-15-200918-3. It begins, "My name is Rose Blanche. I live in a small town in Germany with narrow streets, old fountains, and tall houses with pigeons on the roofs. One day the first truck arrived and many men left. They were dressed as soldiers. Winter was beginning." SITTI'S SECRETS by Naomi Shihab Nye, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (Four Winds) ISBN # 0-02-768460-1 is the story of a girl who lives in one country (the U.S.) while her grandmother lives in the Middle East. "My grandmother lives on the other side of the earth," the narrator writes. She also says, "Sometimes I think the world is a huge body tumbling in space, all curled up like a child sleeping. People are far apart, but connected." Mona, the narrator, also writes a letter to the president of the United States. "I vote for peace," she says in her letter. "My grandmother votes with me." After you read SITTI'S SECRETS, write a letter that Mona might write to Rahel.
Peacebound Trains
Haemi Balgassi was born in Seoul, Korea, and moved to the United States when she was seven years old. This award-winning picture book was inspired by what really happened to Haemi's family as they had to flee during the Korean War. The illustrator, Chris Soentpiet, was also born in Seoul. When he was eight, he was adopted by an American family. What experiences of the family in PEACEBOUND TRAINS are similar to Sahay and Rahel's war experiences? What are some differences?
Close Calls
Imagine a world where almost all food is rationed with coupons that show how much every person can buy--for example, only one cup of milk for a person each day. Imagine a world where a mother who is given a pet rabbit for her daughter has to smuggle it home because it is considered an illegal source of food. Imagine what you would do if you were smuggling food and a Nazi officer reached for the bag.... This is the world that Vera Anna McKenna grew up in as a child in Czechoslovakia under Nazi occupation. Now, Vera McKenna lives in Crookston, Minnesota, where she met Jane Kurtz at the University of North Dakota writers' conferences. Jane helped her write her childhood memories. For another look at children in war time, this book can be ordered from PO Box 144, Crookston, MN 56716-0144 for $10 + $2 shipping and handling. Checks should be made out to Book Fund. Rahel and Sahay stay in a refugee camp in the Sudan for a while. Many children from the Sudan have also become refugees in recent years. Some books for learning more about those children are these:
A SUDANESE FAMILY is part of a Lerner series called "Journey Between Two Worlds." Another book from that series to help you understand Rahel and Sahay's journey is AN ERITREAN FAMILY by Lois Anne Berg (Lerner) ISBN #0-8225-3405-3. Research the city of Jerusalem, a place Rahel has grown up believing she
ultimately belongs. One picture book that can help is THE GOLDEN CITY:
JERUSALEM'S 3000 YEARS by Neil Waldman (Atheneum) ISBN #0-689-80080-0.
Prejudice is one of the themes in THE STORYTELLER'S BEADS. Read WHOEVER
YOU ARE by Mem Fox, illustrated by Leslie Staub (Harcourt) ISBN
#0-15-200787-3. Write a poem/letter from Rahel or Sahay to the narrator
of WHOEVER YOU ARE, reflecting what they might say on the airplane to
Israel about what they've learned.
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