Home of the Brave
by Katherine Applegate (2007)
I had never read a novel of this length composed entirely in free verse poetry, but Applegate's word choice combines the style of a child in a new place with poignant and lush imagery. This is the story of Kek, a Sudanese refugee with no father and brother and a missing mother, who has just moved to the United States to live with an aunt and cousin who are also scarred from the war they left behind. Kek faces new struggles in America, but he finds friends in unexpected places, even a cow who begins to represent much of what he left behind. The stanzas powerfully convey the confusion Kek feels in huge grocery stores, laundromats, and school, but also the longing he feels for a home that no longer exists for him. "This is a light switch. / He pushes a tiny stick on the wall / and the room turns to night / then blinks awake. / In my old home / my real home / the sun gave us light / and the stars / watched us sleep." But it is partly this beautiful conception of his home in Africa that allows Kek to keep hoping his mother will return and allows him to begin building a new home for himself.
I had never read a novel of this length composed entirely in free verse poetry, but Applegate's word choice combines the style of a child in a new place with poignant and lush imagery. This is the story of Kek, a Sudanese refugee with no father and brother and a missing mother, who has just moved to the United States to live with an aunt and cousin who are also scarred from the war they left behind. Kek faces new struggles in America, but he finds friends in unexpected places, even a cow who begins to represent much of what he left behind. The stanzas powerfully convey the confusion Kek feels in huge grocery stores, laundromats, and school, but also the longing he feels for a home that no longer exists for him. "This is a light switch. / He pushes a tiny stick on the wall / and the room turns to night / then blinks awake. / In my old home / my real home / the sun gave us light / and the stars / watched us sleep." But it is partly this beautiful conception of his home in Africa that allows Kek to keep hoping his mother will return and allows him to begin building a new home for himself.
This would be an excellent example of free verse poetry and word choice. Many of the stanzas have unusual but effective adjectives and metaphors: "I have my father's will / my brother's eyes / and my mother's light. / She is like the newborn sun / fresh with promise / the just-beginning moments / before the day / fills like a bucket / with good and bad / sweat and longing." Kek's voice changes throughout the book, as well, as he learns English words for items that have no counterpart in his homeland, and as he gains confidence in his ability to define home. This book would also be an excellent addition to a unit on the struggles facing immigrants in the United States -- for this reason I have included it in my modern immigrant families text set.
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