What is the What, by Dave Eggers (Audio)

Graham, Dion (Speaker) (2007).  What is the what (Audio recording).  Eggers, Dave.  Muze, Inc.

Summary: Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee, is assaulted when he allows a stranger to enter his apartment to use the phone.  As he is tied up, he has flashbacks to his escape as a "Lost Boy", walking from Sudan to Ethiopia and eventually to Kenya before resettling in America 

Additional Comments:  Dion Graham's deep voice and various impersonations for the different characters breathe life into Eggers' deeply moving story that is loosely based on the true-life experiences of Valentino Achak Deng.  Eggers presents a graphic rendering of the violence of the Sudanese Civil War and also presents a realistic portrayal of challenges that refugees as they adjust to a new life in America. What is the What is a shocking, eye-opening story about the first genocide of the 21st-century.

 

The Other Side of Truth by Beverly Naidoo

Naidoo, Beverley (2000.)  The Other side of truth.  New York: HarperCollins Publisher.  

Summary:  12-year-old Sade and her younger brother, Femi, escape from Nigeria where her father is a journalist whose political writing results in Sade's mother's murder.  The children are sent to London with fake passports, but they are abandoned by their escort upon arrival. They end up in the hands of social services and put in a foster home and a school while waiting for temporary asylum as refugees, but they worry about their father's safety.  They face bullies at school and must face difficult decisions about telling the truth and how to stand up to aggressors and injustice.

Additional Comments:  A suspenseful story that explores ethical decisions and personal values on different levels.  On one hand, the father is standing up to censorship by writing about the corrupt government, but the government persecutes him by killing his wife.  Sade faces aggression at school and must decide if she will succumb to the pressure.  Also explores the complications of right and wrong when it comes to telling the truth.  Is it okay to lie when your safety depends on it?