The Garden

Written by Meghan Ferrari

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-568-4

109 pp.

Ages 12+

October 2018

Often, he imagines his heart as a stereo, and his pain a volume knob that his memories control. The volume varies, depending on the day, the time, and the trigger. When the trigger is swift and unexpected, it feels as though the bass has been cranked, and a pain that almost blinds him reverberates throughout his entire body. (pg. 26)

While we might assume, incorrectly, that the path from war-torn Syria through refugee camp and immigration to Canada would be in a positive direction, that journey is rife with trauma, loss and changes that may shadow any positives and create stresses in the new experiences. Such is fifteen-year-old Elias's story, told in alternating chapters of pre- and post-immigration to Canada.

Elias lives with his little brother Moussa and his parents, one a doctor and the other a translator, in Syria. He goes to school, plays football and enjoys spending time with his little brother who loves to draw with his crayons. Then the civil war begins and schools are closed because of missile attacks, food is in short supply and humanitarian donations are being targeted. But Elias is most vigilant about keeping little Moussa and himself safe from rebels seeking to capture children for training and arming for war. In a hole dug in their mother's garden, beneath a piece of plywood, the two boys hide, with Elias making up games, like hide and seek or a role play of a jasmine seed planted in hope of growing, to avoid sharing the circumstances of their situation with his very young brother. The garden becomes a refuge for the boys as it has always been for their mother.

Alternating with Elias's reminiscences of life in Syria are his experiences as a new immigrant, wishful of returning to his homeland to help rebuild it while he is being bullied by boys who know nothing of his struggles. Though he is reluctant to make friends, soon two classmates, Sullivan, a small boy often victimized by bullies, and Liling, a girl whose own family sought asylum in Canada, come to support him without needing to know his back story.

But Elias is struggling with guilt, for choices he made and makes, and for circumstances he deems unfair after he and his family seek shelter in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Coupled with the trauma of things no young person should experience, Elias agonizes over how to look forward when it might mean forgetting those he left behind.

The Garden may be Meghan Ferrari's first book but she draws on her expertise in Social Justice Education to tell a convincing tale about one teen's experiences in the Syrian War, in a Lebanese refugee camp and as a new immigrant to Canada. Elias's disquieting realities, living in fear, with memories of the past and with his prospects for the future, are palpable, drenched in grief and trauma.

The people here might have fled the war, but they weren't free. They were imprisoned in this camp while they anxiously awaited verdicts on asylum claims, news of private sponsorships, or the end of the war. As with most prisons, there was solitary confinement. In this one, it existed in the mind–each inmate trapped in memories of loved ones: either dead, or left behind, or gone ahead on the harrowing journey across the Mediterranean Sea. (pg. 90)

Fortunately for Elias, a garden was and is his salvation, taking his story from one of war and loss, and culture shock and bullying, to the beginnings of healing, and Meghan Ferrari makes sure to let us observe Elias on his odyssey.

War Brothers: The Graphic Novel

by Sharon E. McKay

Illustrated by Daniel LaFrance

Annick Press

978-1-55451-488-5

176 pp.

Ages 14+

February 2013

My story is not an easy one to read.  The life of a child soldier is full of unthinkable violence and brutal death. . . .There is no shame in closing this book now. ~ Kitino Jacob

With his opening letter, Jacob, the narrator of this story, prepares the reader for the horror that begins with his abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda at the age of fourteen. 

Taken in the night with all the boys at his boarding school and marched continuously day after day, night after night, Jacob believes that rescue is imminent, that his father and the government will rescue the boys soon.  Meanwhile, though, they are "instructed" in the ways of the Lord's Resistance Army that purports to serve God and uphold Christian beliefs, aiming its actions against the evil government.  This is especially problematic for these boys who come from a seminary school, where they receive religious instruction.  In fact, Tony, one of Jacob's friends, may have considered becoming a priest.  But, when Tony is threatened, shamed and brutalized into beating an injured boy to death, he begins to see the horror in himself while the LRA sees him as a soldier, worthy of food and water.  Those who have yet to prove themselves as soldiers continue to do without, snatching whatever they may find, edible or not, along their travels.

When they learn that Joseph Kony, the infamous leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, has been trying to negotiate with the government for guns and other arms in exchange for the boys' release,  Jacob and his friends may feel they have some degree of safety.  But they still must endure the mistreatment and strict "decrees" of the LRA, never knowing when one of them may become the victim of a cruel commanding soldier, such as Lizard who seems to target Jacob regularly. From Tony to Hannah, the serving girl who has had both her ears removed, to new children abducted by the LRA, Jacob can see how the LRA manipulates with fear and twisted reasoning, but he holds tight the premise that his small group of friends are his war brothers and he will act as needed to save them, even when he feels abandoned, by God, his father and the government. 

Winner of the 2009 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel, Sharon E. McKay's novel War Brothers (Puffin, 2008) is a gritty read, graphic in its story premise, in its details, in its reality.  Sadly, it's a story that is easily adapted to the graphic novel format, especially when illustrated so capably by Daniel LaFrance.  But be prepared for the darkness - there are few moments of lightness, except at the beginning before Jacob's abduction and somewhat at the book's conclusion.  And Daniel LaFrance's illustrations successfully instill that atmosphere.  Sharon E. McKay has wrapped the details of Jacob's abduction and life as a child soldier in the innocence of a young boy with a reasonable hope for a "normal" life, until the LRA hijack it away from him.  There is no happy ending but one that may satisfy somewhat, knowing that Jacob escapes.  But, Sharon E. McKay and Daniel LaFrance make it clear that there may never be a resolution to the horror of the LRA as long as there are those who've been transformed, even temporarily, from victim to criminal.

While I can encourage the reading of War Brothers: The Graphic Novel, I cannot share with you the intimacy of the story as experienced by Sharon E. McKay.  However, a recently uploaded video from Annick Press has Sharon E. McKay and Daniel LaFrance discussing adapting the book to graphic novel format.  The link to AnnickPress' trailer called Sharon McKay and Daniel LaFrance discuss "War Brothers"can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFrfJ5NaQX4.  Be sure to get this different perspective.

First Descent

Written by Pam Withers
Tundra Books
978-1-77049-257-8
262 pp.
Ages 12+
2011

In kayaking, making a First Descent refers to being the first to successfully get down a wild river.  It would be a milestone for any kayaker, but for seventeen-year-old Rex Scruggs it also means completing the first descent on Colombia's Furioso River, which his Gramps did not complete sixty years earlier. 

Studying his Gramps' journal from that expedition, Rex learns much about the river and the people, but also of his grandfather's prejudicial views, especially to the indigenous Colombians, the indígenas.   It's hard to imagine how important this first descent would be to Rex, considering how crotchety and miserable his grandfather is, especially since Rex and his mom moved from Montana to Alberta prior to his grandmother's death.  It's even harder to believe that Gramps agrees to provide the remaining funds needed for Rex's expedition.  With the proviso that Rex be accompanied by two experienced expeditionists (Henrique and Tiago) and that he attempt to make contact with the Calambás family (who had helped his Gramps), Rex is on his way.

A parallel story of Myriam Calambás, a seventeen-year-old indígena, illustrates the hardships of her Colombian community brutalized both by the paramilitary soldiers who were established to fight the guerillas and the guerillas who have turned from supporting the poor to besieging their communities.  Although the Colombian army has gained the advantage over both corrupt forces in much of the country, they have no control over the more remote areas of the indígenas peoples such as where Myriam's family lives on the Furioso River.  Just as Myriam's grandmother, Abuela, had encountered Rex's Gramps sixty years earlier, Myriam and Rex will have their paths cross, bringing confusion, compassion and ultimately enlightenment to both their lives and the lives they touch. 

Few young adult novels could be identified as adventures nowadays but First Descent is certainly one.  Rex's kayaking expedition is the obvious adventure, one he undertakes to prove something to himself as well as to his irascible grandfather.  Pam Withers' experience with extreme sports (see her website for her bio and book list) serves the reader well, evocatively depicting Rex's need for the adrenaline rush, mixed with his confidence, sometimes arrogance, but tempered with expertise.  I checked out some unrelated videos showing kayakers on first descents in Colombia which were harrowing and impossible to imagine surviving; capably, Pam Withers' text takes the reader along for just such a ride.

However, Myriam and members of her community also experience adventures but on a daily basis, whether it be getting to market to sell their wares or going to the river to wash clothes.  Each activity is a hazardous undertaking, as they anticipate encounters with deranged soldiers, land mines, and even chemicals broadcast from planes to kill the coca plant but also harming the people and their food sources.  Any such affront could precipitate injury or murder, theft or devastation, kidnapping or recruitment, or a complete massacre.  Pam Withers' acknowledgements recognize the vulnerability of indigenous people throughout the world and her commitment to contributing a portion of earnings from this book to organizations that work for these groups. Just as Rex ultimately recognizes the incongruity of undertaking a first descent expedition while the indigenous people of the area fight for survival, I was comforted to know that my purchase and enjoyment of this book may provide some assistance for the indígenas or similar groups, courtesy of Pam Withers.