Dedication: "For Michael, Jake, and Julia, with love."
You simply HAVE to read this book. It won't take long, but you really MUST read this book. If you have a tender spot for refugees who have come to this great, strange country called the United States of America, you will LOVE Ms. Applegate's touching Home of the Brave.
You know the refugees I'm talking about...their clothes aren't exactly right, their voices are just a little too loud or a little too soft, they walk beside busy Buffalo Gap Road in their mismatched outfits in all kinds of weather...and your heart just goes out to them.
Last month, a woman marched up to two refugee boys who were pondering their milk choices at the back of HEB and loudly apologized for the rudeness of the elderly woman who had just insulted them. (I had apparently just missed somebody being awful to them, for some reason.) The two young men seemed completely bewildered...by the dairy cases, by the bills in the older boy's hand, by the loud young woman who was apologizing on behalf of All Good People Everywhere, by the handful of bystanders who stood shaking their heads and glaring at the Insult Hurler, AND by the crabby old witch who was stomping off behind her shopping cart.
Standing alone after the teapot tempest calmed down, they just looked at each other in amazement. (I thought of those two boys often as I read this BEAUTIFUL book.) Here's a short excerpt about Kek's last day of school in his ESL (English as a Second Language) class:
The last day of school
Ms. Hernandez and Mr. Frankin
put our desks into a circle.
Ms. Hernandez stands in the middle.
Here comes a speech, she says.
We all groan.
That noise is the same in all languages.
She laughs.
I promise it'll be a very short speech.
I just want you to know
that I'm very proud of all of you.
You have learned much and
come far this year.
She makes a funny sound in her throat,
but I do not think she has a cold.
Like so many immigrants before you,
I know you'll help make this country
a better, stronger place.
She wipes her eyes. OK.
Speech over.
Ms. Hernandez and Mr. Frankin
put our desks into a circle.
Ms. Hernandez stands in the middle.
Here comes a speech, she says.
We all groan.
That noise is the same in all languages.
She laughs.
I promise it'll be a very short speech.
I just want you to know
that I'm very proud of all of you.
You have learned much and
come far this year.
She makes a funny sound in her throat,
but I do not think she has a cold.
Like so many immigrants before you,
I know you'll help make this country
a better, stronger place.
She wipes her eyes. OK.
Speech over.
***
Beautiful writing, isn't it? And even though I drive people crazy with my love for dogs (and just quoted an excerpt from Haven Kimmel's Iodine about dogs), Kek has a special place in his heart for the cattle he grew up raising in Africa:
Again I'm learning
that America people
don't understand the wonder of a cow.
Maybe if they had more cows
on the TV machine,
people would begin to feel
as Ganwar and I do.
that America people
don't understand the wonder of a cow.
Maybe if they had more cows
on the TV machine,
people would begin to feel
as Ganwar and I do.
You can have your dogs and cats,
your gerbils and hamsters
and sleek sparkling fish.
But you will have lived
just half a life
if you never love a cow.
your gerbils and hamsters
and sleek sparkling fish.
But you will have lived
just half a life
if you never love a cow.
***
It's a great book...hats off to Ms. Applegate! Oh, and if you want to help Abilene's refugees, call or visit the web site of our chapter of the IRC!
It's a great book...hats off to Ms. Applegate! Oh, and if you want to help Abilene's refugees, call or visit the web site of our chapter of the IRC!
