So interesting and heartbreaking and mind exploding. I remember the news behind the basis of this book and being horrified. This account is just as terrifying and sad. We all feel sorry for the girls and what was robbed of them. I am especially sad and scared for the girls that seemed to assimilate to their captor's lives. Terror is a powerful tool that even when it doesn't kill inflicts damage that can sometimes never mend. ( )

I am grateful for the authors who are willing to tackle horrifying subjects and yet do it with a deft hand. This book is intensely readable, appropriate for a teen audience, thoughtful about what Islam means to many people, even while exploring Boko Haram and the devastation they are causing. How do you do that with mass murder? With abduction and forced marriage? With the sudden blight on everyday life that may seem restricted in the West, but is supportive and loving? I don't know how she pulls all that off, but she does. Extraordinary. ( )

This is a wonderful book about a young girl in her early teens who became kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2013 (the year the film Frozen was released, as the book casually incorporated into the story's background information.) The first part of the book depicted the girl's life in rural Nigeria, her school, her family life, her church, her studies, her crush. The second part of the book depicted the violence and horror she went through in the Sambisa Forest after Boko Haram abducted her along with the rest the girls in her village. As the reader we witness not only her ordeal but how the girls around her react to the violence and pressure in their plight. One girl was martyred after refusing to convert from Christianity to Muslim. Another married Muslim lady was raped and died in childbirth. Yet another girl eventually ascribed fully to Boko Haram ideology and actively served to enact jihad. It's very eye-opening and makes me care more about justice and what other people are going through. I will recommend it to my children when they are older. ( )

This was harrowing, intense, and also super informative! ( )

RGG: Amazing story of the kidnapping of girls by the Boko Haram. The twenty-five pages at the end with the history and current status of the kidnapping is a bit dry but worthwhile reading. Short chapters, make this a page turner. Inferred rape, sexual abuse. Reading Interest: 14-YA