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Title details for The Good Braider by Terry Farish - Available

The Good Braider

by Terry Farish
Cherise Boothe
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
The Good Braider was selected as the 2013 Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year and a book of Outstanding Merit. In spare free verse laced with unforgettable images, Viola's strikingly original voice sings out the story of her family's journey from war-torn Sudan, to Cairo, and finally to Portland, Maine. Here, in the sometimes too close embrace of the local Southern Sudanese Community, she dreams of South Sudan while she tries to navigate the strange world of America - a world where a girl can wear a short skirt, get a tattoo or even date a boy; a world that puts her into sharp conflict with her traditional mother who, like Viola, is struggling to braid together the strands of a displaced life. Terry Farish's haunting novel is not only a riveting story of escape and survival, but the universal tale of a young immigrant's struggle to build a life on the cusp of two cultures.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 1, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781470376277
      • File size: 131323 KB
      • Duration: 04:33:35

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 630
    • Text Difficulty: 2-3

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Cherise Boothe narrates this award-winning story of war, dislocation, and immigration with restrained feeling. Her soft cadence is measured so as not to overwhelm the listener but holds enough vigor to testify to the horrors experienced by Viola, the teenaged protagonist. Boothe's lilting voice captures the Sudanese background of the novel, lacing the speech of the older characters with a slight accent that makes their dialogue authentic. Her vocal dexterity brings this novel alive for the listener. At varying times gentle, angry, and sad, Boothe's narration captures the complexity of this family's journey from Sudan to Egypt to the U.S. M.R. (c) AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • School Library Journal

      June 1, 2014

      Gr 9 Up-Sixteen-year-old Viola's family leaves their home in South Sudan after she is raped by a soldier. The arduous journey brings hunger, tragedy, and years in a refugee camp before they relocate to Portland, ME. Consumed by the horrors of her past and a typical teen's desire to fit in, Viola struggles to create an identity that incorporates her African heritage and American freedom. Farish (The Cat Who Loved Potato Soup) creates fully realized characters in spare but lyrical free verse. After the rape, for example, Viola's grandmother braids her hair, "squeezing out the tears." Hair-braiding is an ongoing metaphor for the healing hands of women and Viola's task of weaving together the strands of her life. This audio production accentuates the text by pausing between poems to make the breaks clear. Actress Cherise Boothe differentiates characters smoothly. Viola speaks with a lilting accent while her redheaded American crush uses sharper consonants and a deeper tone. Fans of Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water and Thanhha Lai's Inside Out and Back Again will appreciate Viola's odyssey "from one country to another and one life to the next." Listeners will grow in empathy for survivors who seek freedom from fear and to ultimately adapt to life in the United States.-Toby Rajput, National Louis University, Skokie, IL

      Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:630
  • Text Difficulty:2-3

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