I think this would be a great book to discuss in small groups. It is a very different place, but it can be home too. He learned to make Minnesota his new home.

He had to accept that he should not feel guilty for running away and for surviving.

It is good for immigrants to read because they will be able to relate to it so well. I think that children would enjoy reading it and that it would help them understand what some people have been through in order to be here. I can only imagine how hard that would be. Kek is a kind boy and has to adjust to the changes. It really puts the reader in the place of being so new to a place that is so far away. At the end of the story, his mother arrives in Minnesota and it is their new home. Kek feels guilty for surviving and wonders why he was able to survive. They both have the pain of watching family die and it is hard. He stops to see the cow and his cousin comes to talk with him. This devastates Kek and he tries to run away. Kek finds out that the woman will sell the farm and that he won't be able to take care of the cow once it is sold. He is very excited to learn at school and meets people from many different places. It makes him feel close to home and like he is doing something good. Kek befriends an older woman and gets a job taking care of her cow. He arrived in the winter and had to adjust to all the snow and cold. The reader is shown the world through Kek's eyes. Kek goes to Minnesota to live with his aunt and cousin while they hope to hear news of his mother. Kek and his mother ran and survived but lost each other. There was violence and his dad and brother were killed. Wealth was determined by how many cattle the family owned. His life in Sudan was in a village with his parents and brother. It is a beautiful story about a boy who arrives in Minnesota from Sudan. It is for ages 9 to 12 and is 256 pages written as a poem.

Home of the Brave is a realistic fictional story written by Katherine Applegate.

Kek from home of the brave