Don't Look Back

August 1, 2022
A refugee who survived the Second Sudanese Civil War tells her story. Co-authors Hutton and Deng open with historical and political context for the brutal civil war that wracked Sudan from 1983 to 2005 before recounting Deng's harrowing tale. This compelling first-person narrative moves swiftly through short and often suspenseful chapters that chronicle Deng's life from 1988 through 2010, mostly focusing on the horrors she endured between November 1991, when she was 6 and fled a rebel soldiers' attack on her village, through her August 1992 arrival at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya after an arduous 1,000-mile trek. Deng grew up at the camp, enduring ongoing deprivation and loss but also receiving some education and making deep friendships. At age 16 she resettled in Texas in a situation that brought its own challenges. Woven throughout are themes of unresolved grief (she does not know if her parents are alive), her Christian faith (where is God in all the atrocities she has witnessed?), patriarchy (she must cede to older male relatives' wishes), and hope (modeled for her by loving adults). Deng is now a mother who has built a life in the U.S., working in human relations in a South Dakota meatpacking plant. This is a gripping account of an extraordinary journey. A powerful read for this time of unprecedented refugee movement across the globe. (authors' note, family tree, Deng's letter to readers) (Memoir. 12-18)

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Starred review from October 15, 2022
Grades 7-12 *Starred Review* Southern Sudanese Deng's remarkable life story is one of loss and survival. It begins when her father is wounded in Sudan's never-ending civil war and her mother leaves to help nurse him. Their village is then attacked by rebels. When six-year-old Deng and her beloved grandmother attempt to flee, they are captured by the rebels, who murder her grandmother, thus leaving Deng alone in the world. Mercifully, a woman named Adual, a former neighbor and friend of her mother, finds the girl and becomes her surrogate mother. Together, they are incarcerated, escape, and embark upon an impossibly difficult, two-month walk to the Kenyan refugee camp Kakuma. Tragically, Adual dies at the camp, but somehow Deng--now 11--weathers this new loss as well. After nine years of grief and pain, during which she endures illness and sexual abuse, Deng is selected to go to America. The combined experience and talents of Hutton and Deng result in crisp, clear writing that is eminently readable. Deng's voice rings authentically through the telling, her resilient spirit eclipsing the grueling trials she was forced to endure. Though Deng's grandmother once told her to never look back, readers will thank Deng for disobeying her and sharing her moving, powerful story.

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