Fourteen-year-old Khosi yearns for this thing called the future-- something better than sickness and superstition in a shanty town. Does she want too much? A stunning YA coming-of-age story set in post-apartheid South Africa.
Khosi lives with her beloved grandmother, her little sister, and her weekend mother in a matchbox house on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. In this shantytown, it seems like somebody is dying all the time. Billboards everywhere warn of the disease of the day. When Khosi's mother turns sick, she refuses any care. No traditional Zulu medicine. When Khosi tries to take her mother to a western doctor, her mother tells her not to bother and to stay in school. Only education will save Khosi and her sister from the poverty and ignorance of the old Zulu ways.
School, though, is not bad. There is a boy her own age there, Little Man Ncobo, and she loves his blue-black lips and the color of his skin, so much darker than her own. But he mocks her when a witch's curse and a neighbor's accusations send her scrambling off to the sangoma's hut in search of a healing potion. She doesn't know what it is that makes the blood come up from her choking lungs. Witchcraft? A curse? AIDS? What must she do to save her mother from wasting before their eyes?
About the Author :
J.L. Powers is a novelist and scholar. She holds master's degrees in African History from State University of New York-Albany and Stanford University. After winning a Fulbright-Hayes to study Zulu in South Africa, she served as a visiting scholar in Stanford's African Studies Department. Today, she lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
Review :
* "This is a fascinating glimpse into a worldview that, while foreign to many readers, is made plausible through Khosi's practical and conflicted perspective." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review
"Captures the local conflicts as well as the universal coming-of-age themes. Teens will sympathize with Khosi's weariness at hearing about her parents' heroic role in the past 'struggle, ' and the tense story builds skillfully to an anguished revelation readers will want to discuss." -- Booklist
"Despite pervasive HIV and the specter of rape, as well as the restrictions on girls' freedom that are her society's only response, Khosi manages to find her power, refuse to be a victim, and carve out a future for herself that embraces both the modern and the traditional." -- The Horn Book
"Takes a loving, clear-eyed look at the clash of old and new through the experience of one appealing teenager... A compassionate and moving window on a harsh world." -- Kirkus Reviews
"This is a powerfully gripping, eye-opening novel that doesn't pull any punches, and readers will long remember Khosi and the trials and tribulations facing South Africans as they venture forth into the modern world while desperately holding onto their heritage." -- School Library Journal
"A compelling, often harrowing portrait of a struggling country, where old beliefs and rituals still have power, but can't erase the problems of the present. Readers will be fully invested in Khosi's efforts to secure a better future." -- Publishers Weekly
Best Children's Books of the Year - Bank Street College of Education
Best Fiction for Young Adults - Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)
Best Teen Books - Kirkus Reviews
Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book - Texas Institute of Letters (TIL)
