How dare the sun rise : memoirs of a war child

Author

Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Call Number

• 921 U95 TEEN (OSH)

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Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

Physical Description

288 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations, color portraits ; 24 cm

Audience

Ages 13 and up.

Summary

Sandra Uwiringiyimana was just ten years old when she found herself with a gun pointed at her head. The rebels had come at night -- wielding weapons, torches, machetes. She watched as her mother and six-year-old sister were gunned down in a refugee camp, far from their home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The rebels were killing people who weren't from the same community, the same tribe. In other words, they were killing people simply for looking different. "Goodbye, life," she said to the man ready to shoot her. Remarkably, the rebel didn't pull the trigger, and Sandra escaped into the night. Thus began a new life for her and her surviving family members. With no home and no money, they struggled to stay alive. Eventually, through a United Nations refugee program, they moved to America, only to face yet another ethnic disconnect. Sandra may have crossed an ocean, but there was now a much wider divide she had to overcome. And it started with middle school in New York. In this memoir, Sandra tells the story of her survival, of finding her place in a new country, and of her hope for the future.