Danticat, Edwidge. Eight Days: A Story of HaitiThe earthquake in Haiti in 2010 was devastating, and the country is still having immense problems. This picture book tries to recapture some of the beauty of life in Haiti that is hard to find. Junior is trapped under a building after the earthquake with his friend Oscar, and manages to survive for 8 days, thinking each day of activities he liked to do with his friends. While he survives, Oscar does not. There is a helpful afterword that explains more about the earthquake and Danticat's motivation for writing a book about Haiti so that her young daughters would be able to know something about the country as it was before the earthquake.
Danticat is also the author of Anacaona: Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490, one of the Scholastic Royal Diaries books, as well as many other books.
I love the boy's face peaking through his parents on the cover.
ReplyDeleteI will file this away for future reference. My kids are still immersed in the events of 3/11 (emotionally, I mean, we were never directly affected) so I think it's a little too fresh for us, but I would like to know more and share with my kids as well.
I heard Danticat speak about this book in an NPR interview. Very moving. Also nice to hear that her "real life" voice matches the warmth and rhythm she captures in her books.
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