Making It Home: Real-Life Stories from Children Forced to Flee »

In this inspiring collection, children living all over the world speak about being forced to flee their homes as refugees. With original, autobiographical accounts, Making It Home gives a poignant voice to the millions of young people whose lives have been disrupted by war but who have escaped. With maps, brief histories of each country, and an eight-page photo insert, this book helps young people understand the world and the children who share the dream of freedom.

School Library Journal

Gr 4 Up-These brief narratives by young people escaping their war-torn lands and lives are significant because while only 20 voices are presented here, Beverley Naidoo's introduction states that "more than 20 million children and their families have been forced to leave their homes to escape from the effects of war in recent years." Narrators from Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Liberia, Sudan, and Burundi reveal the injustices of their lives, forced by fate to have anything but normal childhoods. A short introduction precedes each narrative or set of narratives and gives the history of the country's conflict, providing much-needed background information. The selections were written by children as young as 6, with most of them by teenagers, up to 17. The pain of their experiences is raw; losing a parent or siblings changes their view of the world, and yet, despite it all, the universal feeling is one of hope for the future. The contributors have little to fear, having survived the worst. A centerfold features full-color photos of several of the young people.-Alexa Sandmann, Kent State University, OH Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.