As the sponsor drives him to his aunt’s apartment from the airport, he spots an old cow in a field, looking cold and lonely. I especially related to Kek’s need for something to connect him to his home, his “real” home. This story brought to the surface many emotions that I too felt as a child, arriving back in the US: a mix of awe, fear, loneliness, and longing to belong. Kek joins his aunt and his teenage cousin in America, with only his memories of home and family, and hope that his mother is still out there somewhere, to sustain him. His father and brother are dead and his mother is missing. Civil war brought all of his childhood to a screeching halt. His life, back in Sudan, was the simple, nomadic life of the herdsmen, living in huts, with his extended family. Navigating his way around this strange new world seems often overwhelming to a 12 year old. There he struggles to adjust, not just from the shock of bitter cold, but everything in this Western world: English -“the tangled sounds” they tried to teach him at the refugee camp, modern conveniences like washing machines, toilets, even electricity, a new school and making friends. Kek, a refugee from Sudan, arrives in the US in the dead of winter, to none other than Minnesota. This short novel, written in free verse, had me in it’s grip from the very first page. Powerfully written and intensely moving, The Brave traces the legacy of violence behind the myth of the American West and explores our quest for love and identity, the fallibility of heroes and the devastating effects of family secrets.I just finished reading Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate.
As he struggles to save his son’s life, he will learn the true meaning of bravery. Only when his estranged son, a US Marine, is charged with murder do the events resurface, forcing him to confront his demons. What happened all those years ago remains a secret that corrodes Tom’s life and wrecks his marriage. Soon, however, the sinister side of Tinseltown casts its shadow and a shocking act of violence changes their lives forever.
They move to Hollywood and all his dreams seem to have come true. But when his sister Diane, a rising star of stage and screen, falls in love with one of his idols, the suave TV cowboy Ray Montane, Tom’s life is transformed. The only comfort he gets is from his fantasy world of Cowboys and Indians. His parents are old and remote and the boarding school they’ve sent him to bristles with bullies and sadistic staff. There’s little love in eight-year-old Tom Bedford’s life.
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