The Good Braider by Terry Farish is the story of Viola, a young Sudanese girl who along with her mother and younger brother, escape from their home in war-torn Southern Sudan and make their way to Cairo, Egypt. They live in the refugee camps and work at menial jobs while they try over and over again to be accepted to the United States where they have a relative willing to sponsor them.

This heart-breaking story is told in free verse and the reader experiences Viola’s thoughts, fears and emotions in the sparse, simple yet deeply descriptive words. From Viola’s rape by a solider, to the loss of a loved one and on to their struggles once they actually reach the United States. We experience her journey to find a better life.

The author of The Good Braider is not a refugee and in fact, is a white woman, but she has done her research and has written a lyrical, moving account that feels authentic. The reader is able to get a real sense of who Viola is and how she comes to terms with what life has offered her. The story is short and moves quickly but certainly depicts the plight of the refugee in a poignant and sympathetic manner. ( )

I would recommend this book to our marvelous ESOL/ELL teachers who recognize the respect the hardships of moving to a new country, new school, new cultures and all the other struggles our students overcome.
I also was reminded of our current resistance to help children who are forced to leave their own countries and families because of the violence and inhuman conditions of their homelands. Why build barriers when we can open doors? ( )

Beautiful, beautiful. The language is so stripped down, nothing can hide in the words. ( )

I read this book almost non-stop; it was compelling. Written as free verse, we move thru several years in a teenage girls life in war-torn Sudan, briefly as she and some of her family flee, and then trying to fit in America.
I felt a bit cheated afterwards when I read that this was written by an American. I thought I was seeing something about the patterns of a Sudanese woman's thinking, but it is fiction. ( )

Safe in our homes, it is almost impossible to imagine the difficulties faced by refugees. This short novel (on the 2015-2016 Eliot Rosewater Book List) allows us to travel with a teenage girl as she leaves a refugee camp in the Sudan to immigrate to America. I loved that the story continues after the family arrives in Maine and continues to show some of the difficulties refugees face in their new homelands. This was a very poignant story and one that deserves to be discussed. Hopefully, readers will be inspired to learn more about the refugee process. ( )