In Search of Safety

March 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Kuklin features five powerful stories of refugees that culminate in making a home in Nebraska. While the voices are diverse, they have all experienced incomprehensible trauma before settling in America. The people include an Afghani translator for the military, a Karen man (presently known as Burma or Myanmar) without a homeland, a South Sudanese survivor of civil war, a Yazidi captive of ISIS, and a man of combined Hutu and Tutsi heritage who escaped genocide. Each story details their upbringing and then explains the conflict leading to their status and how they were able to relocate. A reflection on their current welfare ends each section. The book lives up to its subtitle and packs a visceral punch for readers. Discussions of rape, physical and emotional abuse, and war are not sugarcoated. For teen readers, the details could be unsettling. Kuklin maintains a clear focus on the first-person narratives, but they are a little uneven because English is a new language for the speakers. Sentences are stunted and short yet powerfully demonstrate global differences in politically or religiously unstable countries. Most of the refugees were able to relocate using non-government organizations (NGOs). VERDICT Add this title to collections to continue to develop comprehensive #Ownvoices narratives. This one reaches wide and deep.-Alicia Abdul, Albany High School, NY

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2020
Chronicles the painful, yet powerfully uplifting, stories of five refugees who came to the U.S. in search of better futures. The people sharing their stories are Shireen, a Yazidi woman from Iraq who was sold into sex slavery by the Islamic State group; Nyarout, a Nuer woman from South Sudan who grew up in civil war and famine; Fraidoon, a Tajik man from Afghanistan living under the threat of a fatwa; Nathan, a Karen man from Myanmar who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand; and Dieudonn�, a Hutu and Tutsi man from Burundi who fled ethnic cleansing at age 4. Written in a forthright and unembellished manner and not for the faint of heart, this book will find its place among essential readings for understanding the devastating toll conflicts have on populations throughout the world. It is also a beautiful testimony--a lesson in life, really--to the power of resilience and will to survive displayed by each of the five protagonists, now resettled in Nebraska. Kuklin, who has previously written about similar issues (see 2019's We Are Here To Stay), does a brilliant job of capturing and transmitting the gripping, often raw, but always hopeful first-person testimonies, and readers cannot help but feel empathy for the individuals as they learn the horrors they survived (but never overcame, in some cases). A brutal, must-read account. (maps, sources, author's note, chapter notes, timelines, resources, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)

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April 1, 2020
Grades 8-12 This continues Kuklin's substantial body of nonfiction centering the lives of marginalized individuals. This work documents the stories of five refugees (and their families) who were resettled in the U.S. through the Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska: Fraidoon from Afghanistan, Nathan from Myanmar, Nyarout from South Sudan, Shireen from Iraq, and Dieudonn� from Burundi. The narratives are presented in first person, presumably told to Kuklin, which lends a poignant immediacy to the text. Readers learn about the causes of conflict in each person's homeland and the growing pressures that have led to their flights; the reasons for forced migration are varied and various. Maps, time lines, and other supplemental back matter provide context. Candid and posed photographs add valuable visual information. A significant theme threading through the stories is how long and involved the refugee resettlement experience is, usually taking years, reams of paperwork, and constant diligence on the part of every person involved. A necessary addition to middle-school curriculum.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from June 1, 2020
In straightforward prose, this latest work by Kuklin (We Are Here to Stay) introduces five people who left all they knew to escape persecution in their home countries: Fraidoon, from Afghanistan; Nathan, born in a Thai refugee camp; Nyarout, from South Sudan; Shireen, from Northern Iraq; and Dieudonné, from Burundi. Each offers clear, often disturbing stories of events leading up to their escapes and established lives in the United States, where arrival presented its own challenges. The firsthand accounts of war, abduction into sex slavery, torture, and loss can be difficult to read, but they make plain the desperate plight of people seeking asylum, making this work an important addition to any collection. Each story is accompanied by explanatory text from the author, along with photographs that acquaint the reader with the refugee and their circumstances. Back matter provides information on the resettling process, agencies mentioned, and a historical timeline for each country. Ages 14–up.

January 1, 2020
Hewing to a definition of refugees as "people who are forced to leave their country because they are being persecuted," Kuklin profiles five such young adults: Fraidoon/Fred from Afghanistan; Hei Blut/Nathan from Myanmar; Nyarout from South Sudan; Shireen from Iraq; and Dieudonn� from Burundi. Their common bond is Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, "one of the most successful resettlement programs in the country," which sponsored or cared for each of these intrepid survivors. While each lengthy profile--told in the first person and illustrated with Kuklin's full-color photographs--covers the expanse of each subject's story, Kuklin chooses one or another stage of the journey to highlight, from the red tape Fraidoon encountered despite his work as a translator for the American forces fighting the Taliban, to the slavery endured by Shireen, a Yazidi, at the hands of ISIS. The circumstances of all five refugees were perilous and frightening; their tenacity and courage (and even humor) are salutary. An exemplary appendix of notes and resources broadens the impact of the individual accounts; the accounts themselves personalize the crisis and statistics. Index not seen.

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2020
Hewing to a definition of refugees as "people who are forced to leave their country because they are being persecuted," Kuklin profiles five such young adults: Fraidoon/Fred from Afghanistan; Hei Blut/Nathan from Myanmar; Nyarout from South Sudan; Shireen from Iraq; and Dieudonne from Burundi. Their common bond is Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, "one of the most successful resettlement programs in the country," which sponsored or cared for each of these intrepid survivors. While each lengthy profile-told in the first person and illustrated with Kuklin's full-color photographs-covers the expanse of each subject's story, Kuklin chooses one or another stage of the journey to highlight, from the red tape Fraidoon encountered despite his work as a translator for the American forces fighting the Taliban, to the slavery endured by Shireen, a Yazidi, at the hands of ISIS. The circumstances of all five refugees were perilous and frightening; their tenacity and courage (and even humor) are salutary. An exemplary appendix of notes and resources broadens the impact of the individual accounts; the accounts themselves personalize the crisis and statistics. Index not seen. Roger Sutton

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)