A thoughtful, moving story of loss and triumph.
Congolese Canadian author and storyteller Juma presents her memoir of fleeing armed conflict as a teen in the 1990s.
Her story begins with reminiscences about happier days in her multicultural, multifaith border town of Uvira in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where an abundance of nature, feasts, friendship, and community life prevailed. Slowly, events unfold—the arrival of refugees from Burundi and Rwanda, a civil war in Congo—climaxing with a harrowing hijacking and an escape via a perilous mountain trail. Juma, her mother, and siblings eventually make it to a United Nations refugee camp in Tanzania and then to Québec. The story builds momentum while maintaining key individuals’ storylines. Neither boastfulness nor bitterness shadow Juma’s narrative as she describes her family’s comfortable prewar status and subsequent losses. In a dignified tone she narrates her personal grief—a friend taken as a child soldier, the death of her beloved father, and the bombing of her childhood home, Maison Rouge. This is no tragedy porn, however. Juma’s book serves, above all, as a reminder that refugees, though uprooted, have enduring cultural and spiritual roots. This slim volume is appealing for its rich descriptions of everyday social life and effortless weaving in of culture through the use of Baswahili words from the author’s native language and faith tradition.
A thoughtful, moving story of loss and triumph. (author’s note, introduction, map) (Memoir. 13-adult)Pub Date: June 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-926890-30-2
Page Count: 118
Publisher: Tradewind Books
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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