Graphic Novels Reader Recommendations

Read Deogratias A Tale of Rwanda a graphic novel

Reader Recommendations - for this unit I'm separating graphic novel and "regular" book recommendations. I admit to being a little confused by applying "graphic novel" to fiction and nonfiction but that is the label I'm finding in various places!

GRAPHIC NOVEL RECOMMENDATIONS:
If the reader wanted a graphic novel also about Africa,Irecommend the award-winning Aya, by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie. The book is about Africa and involves a teenage girl and her friends and family. There isn't the horror as found in the GN about Rwanda. Indeed the author of Aya, when interviewed said she intentionally wanted to show an Africa without famine or war.

The book is lighter in storyline, is humorous and described as a fun read, and has light, vibrant, colorful illustrations. As to location and time, this takes place in the Ivory Coast in the 1970s. There's a second book about Aya if the reader enjoys this. I enjoyed Aya very much and did read it as a contrast to the harrowing tale of Rwanda.


If the reader was interested in other graphic novels that dealt with historic events and would be educational but didn't need to deal with Africa or the 1990's: I would recommend:
The Pulitizer Prize winning classic graphic novel, Maus, about the Holocaust.

Another GN I would recommend is Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, which is about an Iranian girl from 10-14 yrs (so you'd have the youth interest if a teen wanted another GN or an adult was interested in stories with teens/tweens) who is there during the Iranian revolution in the 1970s and whose family escapes Iran during the Iraq/Iran War.

"Regular" book recommendations:
I'd recommend Over a Thousand Hills by Hanna Jansen. For someone interested in more on the Rwanda genocide and focus on a child (8 during genocide so younger than teen) and suitable for Grade 9-up per SLJ. Jansen's book is a ficionalized biography of an 8 year girl who was the only member of her family to survive.
Although not a graphic novel, this would be of interest to readers, particularly teens, since a child is the focus. It also has the same setting Rwanda and the storyline - the genocide in Rwanda.
Review from Teen Ink website: Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You by Hanna Jansen
This inspirational book is based on the true story of Jeanne, who is caught in a war of ethnicities in Rwanda. The trials Jeanne endured are shocking; she was only eight when the atrocities occurred. Jeanne experiences the deaths of her mother and brother, which are forever engrained in her memory.

The root of the Rwandan genocide is ethnic violence ­between the Tutsis and Hutus. The Tutsis were hunted down and betrayed by their neighbors and friends, the Hutus. And so Jeanne learns whom she can and cannot trust.

Through many trials of doubt Jeanne becomes wise for her age. The story is told by Jeanne’s adoptive mother, who graciously becomes her guardian. This book showcases the will of a girl to survive and overcome the past to create a positive future.

This piece has also been published in Teen Ink's monthly magazine.


NONFICTION Books for adults
A 2008 book by foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer, A Thousand Hills:Rwanda's Rebirth anf the Man Who Dreamed It, would update the reader on what's currently happening in Rwanda if that's what the reader asked me for. Kinzer describes progress and the country's President, Paul Kagame. A PW reviewer expresses some caution -- that Kinzer may be too optimistic about the country's rebirth and Kagame.

Recommendation: Nonfiction Book
And not to be too confusing with another Thousand Hills title!!!!!!
An older book but well worth reading:
Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda by Carr, Rosamund Halsey (Author), with Halsey, Ann Howard
Carr describes her life as a young bride who ends up in Africa and stays even after her divorce. Her love of Africa and the people is warmly portrayed. She knew Tutsis and Hutus and both ethnic groups worked on her African "farm." It was shocking to her and is to the reader to see the rapid descent into violence and how Tutsis and Hutus who worked together amd were neighbors quickly turned into enemies and engaged in shocking violence. Obviously, this is a book I read and could describe it to the reader -- if the reader wants to read about Africa, know more about the history of Rwanda, read an eyewitness account of the violence, this would be an excellent book. It's also an account by an adult and by an outsider--non-African who grew to love Africa if these would be appeals for the reader.