Brothers in Hope written by Mary Williams is a story about a young African American boy uniting with thousands of other orphan boys to walk through a refugee camp in another country after theirs was destroyed due to the Civil War. This story is based on true events. I recommend this book to any middle school history classroom as it discusses the components of the Civil War and the Ethiopian culture. ( )

"When their village in Sudan is attacked and their families lost, Garang and countless other boys have to embark on a long journey during which they deal with severe hunger, thirst, illness and exhaustion. They finally reach Ethiopia and the refugee camp, but this place of hope proves to be temporary. Now they have to repeat the nightmarish journey in order to get to another camp in Kenya where they are faced with continuous struggles for survival. As Garang grows up, he becomes a leader who seeks ways to improve conditions. At last, he and some of the other boys are offered the opportunity to go to the US. Williams allows Garang to narrate his story of unimaginable suffering and pain and the atrocities of war. Christie’s strongly hued acrylic paintings provide graphic accompaniment in his affecting style. Powerful and deeply moving, but definitely not for the youngest readers. (author’s note, afterword) (Picture book. 10+)" www.kirkusreviews.com

The book Brothers Hope written by Mary Williams, tells a powerful story of an orphaned boy who is struggling to survive the civil war and in the Sudan. Not only is this book focused on Garang, but it is also focused on the thousands of other boys that he comes across along the way. l highly recommend this book to any middle school history classroom. This book gives a deep insight to what they went through in this time. ( )

Intermediate; Non-Fiction; This was a long, and somewhat hard book to read. It is written about the true story of the Lost Boys of Sudan escaping to Ethiopia after war broke out in the villages in Sudan. It was a sweet story written by one boy's perspective as he led a group of 35 younger boys to safety. While it was endearing, it was honest about the struggles they encountered as they had no food or water, had to travel at night to ensure safety, drank their own urine to stay hydrated, and lost many of the boys to death. The author did a great job of incorporating these aspects of the story without making it graphic, but it would be a heavy book for casual reading. This would be a great resource in teaching about immigration, of The Lost Boys of Sudan specifically, but needs to have context with it to dig into. Overall a great book for older kids. ( )

This book follows a group of boys fleeing a war-torn village, faced with no choice but to survive independently and flee to a safer country, Ethiopia. While the vocabulary isn't complex, the themes of war and refugee may be difficult for young readers to understand. What stuck with me the most was the page mentioning Chuti, a five-year-old refugee who was too small to walk independently. ( )