The Door of No Return

I saw The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander on a list of possible Newbery contenders and decided to give it a read. (I was in the middle of reading it when the children's book awards were announced, and it didn't win anything. But still a great book.) The book description says, "In his village in Upper Kwanta, 11-year-old Kofi loves his family, playing oware with his grandfather and swimming in the river Offin. He’s warned though, to never go to the river at night. His brother tells him 'There are things about the water you do not know.' 'Like what?' Kofi asks. 'The beasts.' His brother answers. One fateful night, the unthinkable happens and in a flash, Kofi’s world turns upside down. Kofi soon ends up in a fight for his life and what happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves."

This was a very heavy but important book. It was written in verse, which made it a fairly quick read, and the story definitely kept me engaged. The author made Kofi so real and really allowed me as the reader to feel the emotions of what the characters were going through. I liked that the book captured a culture and a part of history that I haven't really read about before. The book was quite sad but somehow written in a way that made it heavy and terrible and yet bearable. Like I didn't come away from the book depressed but did come away with it thinking about the horrific things people had to go through. One of the reviews on the back used the word "sober," which I think it a good description--the story was sobering.

* * (2/3 = Liked it)