This hard-hitting autobiography will have readers reeling as it shows one young woman’s challenging path to healing
At the age of 10, author Uwiringiyimana went through horrors no one, let alone a child, should ever have to go through.
She thought her life was over when she found herself with a gun, held by a member of a guerrilla group, pointed to her head. This, after she had just witnessed the gunning down of her mother and sister in the massacre of her tribe, the Banyamulenge. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sandra and her family had been living in a refugee camp in Burundi when the rebels struck one night. Sandra lived to tell her tale. After picking up the pieces they could find, Sandra and her family were resettled to America via a United Nations refugee program. They had more troubles ahead when the racial division and ethnic disconnect of the States hit them head-on. “I had grown up in a war zone,” she writes on coming to understand how blackness defines her in her new home, “but life in America…was a different kind of war zone.” In this touching memoir, Uwiringiyimana, with the help of Pesta, tells her story of tragedy, terror, survival, and hope. As she carries readers on a journey of self—of discovering, losing, and finding it again—she becomes a powerful voice for many who are silenced: girls, women, and immigrants everywhere, refugees in particular.
This hard-hitting autobiography will have readers reeling as it shows one young woman’s challenging path to healing . (Memoir. 13-adult)Pub Date: May 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-247014-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
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
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future.
An adaptation for teens of the adult title A Queer History of the United States (2011).
Divided into thematic sections, the text filters LGBTQIA+ history through key figures in each era from the 1500s to the present. Alongside watershed moments like the 1969 Stonewall uprising and the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, the text brings to light less well-known people, places, and events: the 1625 free love colony of Merrymount, transgender Civil War hero Albert D.J. Cashier, and the 1951 founding of the Mattachine Society, to name a few. Throughout, the author and adapter take care to use accurate pronouns and avoid imposing contemporary terminology onto historical figures. In some cases, they quote primary sources to speculate about same-sex relationships while also reminding readers of past cultural differences in expressing strong affection between friends. Black-and-white illustrations or photos augment each chapter. Though it lacks the teen appeal and personable, conversational style of Sarah Prager’s Queer, There, and Everywhere (2017), this textbook-level survey contains a surprising amount of depth. However, the mention of transgender movements and activism—in particular, contemporary issues—runs on the slim side. Whereas chapters are devoted to over 30 ethnically diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer figures, some trans pioneers such as Christine Jorgensen and Holly Woodlawn are reduced to short sidebars.
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future. (glossary, photo credits, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8070-5612-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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