Cold white sun

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Cold white sun

Title:

Cold white sun

Author:

Holler, Sue Farrell, 1962- author.

ISBN:

9781773060811

Physical Description:

287 pages ; 23 cm

Reading Level:

HL 620 L Lexile

Subject Term:

Survival -- Fiction.

Terrorism -- Fiction.

Foster children -- Fiction.

Summary:

Tesfaye lives behind the safe walls of his family's compound in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His father is an important man, Tesfaye goes to one of the best schools in the city, his mother and older sisters keep him fed and cared for. He and his beloved brother, Ishi, can spend their time playing soccer, racing chickens and spying on the guests - as long as they stay away from the sharp horns of the family's goat and avoid their father's fiery temper. When rebel forces take over the capital, life becomes more complicated. Tesfaye's father's cousin takes him to live in the former imperial palace, and Tesfaye becomes the most favored son. His father takes him along when he gives political speeches and distributes leaflets. It is all very exciting, even if Tesfaye doesn't pay attention to what the leaflets actually say. And then suddenly his father is arrested, and Tesfaye's own life is in peril. His mother sends him into hiding in her father's village, until even that is too dangerous. Tesfaye is put in the care of a human smuggler and embarks on an uncertain, confusing and terrifying journey through Kenya, Europe and finally to Canada, where he is put on a Greyhound bus with ten dollars and instructions to stay on the bus until someone tells him to get off. You are safe now, says the smuggler. You are in Canada. This country will protect you. And so begins his new life in North America, sheltered for a while by fellow expats, threatened by the authorities, shunted from a group home to foster care. But through it all he is plagued by confusion and grief, wondering whether he will ever know what has happened to the family he left behind.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	TEEN FICTION HOL	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A stranger-than-fiction story based on the real-life experiences of a young boy who was smuggled out of Ethiopia amid political unrest to start a new life from nothing in Calgary, Alberta.

When rebel forces take over the capital, life becomes more complicated. Tesfaye's father's cousin takes him to live in the former imperial palace, and Tesfaye becomes the most favored son. His father takes him along when he gives political speeches and distributes leaflets. It is all very exciting, even if Tesfaye doesn't pay attention to what the leaflets actually say.

And then suddenly his father is arrested, and Tesfaye's own life is in peril. His mother sends him into hiding in her father's village, until even that is too dangerous. Tesfaye is put in the care of a human smuggler and embarks on an uncertain, confusing and terrifying journey through Kenya, Europe and finally to Canada, where he is put on a Greyhound bus with ten dollars and instructions to stay on the bus until someone tells him to get off. You are safe now, says the smuggler. You are in Canada. This country will protect you.

And so begins his new life in North America, sheltered for a while by fellow expats, threatened by the authorities, shunted from a group home to foster care. But through it all he is plagued by confusion and grief, wondering whether he will ever know what has happened to the family he left behind.

Key Text Features

author's note

map

historical context

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6

Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Author Notes

SUE FARRELL HOLLER is a journalist, literacy advocate and the author of picture books and a middle-grade novel, including Lacey and the African Grandmothers (Second Story Press, 2009). She is a member of the Writers' Guild of Alberta, past president of the Grande Prairie Children's Literature Roundtable and former director of the Young Alberta Book Society.

Reviews (2)

Horn Book Review

The son of a well-connected businessman, Tesfaye is accustomed to a life of privilege in 1990s Ethiopia. He eats well (no small thing in the years after the Great Famine) and attends an excellent school; his biggest worries are keeping his grades up and pleasing his father. Danger hovers close, however, and as tensions with rebel forces rise, Tesfayes world is violently upended. His father is arrested, and Tesfaye himself is wanted by the authorities. Eventually, a terrified Tesfaye endures a harrowing journey (via human trafficker) to Kenya, through Europe, and ultimately to Canada. But a new country is no guarantee of safety, and Tesfaye must now face new dangers without the support of his family. Based on a true story and thoughtfully disguised to protect the real Tesfaye (and his family still in Ethiopia), Hollers tale provides a timely refugee narrative driven by its protagonists intense emotional experience. Holler has taken great care to focus on Tesfayes humanity throughout a story that could so easily be overtaken by its political upheaval, physical peril, and culture shock; readers will be compelled by Tesfayes eye-opening perspective as they follow him through terror and survival. anastasia m. collins September/October 2019 p.89(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

Based on interviews with a man who started life as the son of a powerful Addis Ababa businessman, this novel traces the story of one refugee in Canada."Tesfaye" (names were changed to protect relatives back in Ethiopia) spent his early years caring only about doing well in school to please his father, playing with his brothers, and trying to eat before his sisters shooed him away. Born around the time of the Great Famine, Tesfaye recalls the early 1990s, when he had to be inside before dark because the world was dangerous after nightfall. When rebel soldiers forced their way into the family compound, Tesfaye found his life changed irrevocably. Later, after his father was arrested for anti-government activities and Tesfaye's name was added to a wanted list for helping him distribute pamphlets, he began a long, taxing journey first to Kenya and, eventually, to Canada. Holler (Lacey and the African Grandmothers, 2009, etc.) transforms his story into an emotionally gripping work of fiction. The details of his difficult and harrowing life will wrap readers up in Tesfaye's emotionshis joys, fears, and anxietiesshowing them the world through his senses. The care taken with this narrative is apparent on every page; readers cannot help but feel for Tesfaye and others like him who must sacrifice so much for survival and safety.A profound, heartbreaking narrative filled with loss, confusion, displacement, and longing. (map, author's note, information about Ethiopia) (Fiction. 14-adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Excerpts

"He cannot stay here!" I jolted to sitting. Blind darkness. Muscles tensed, breath stopped. Heart bashing through my chest. Listening. Ready. ... I filled my lungs to capacity, let the air trickle from them like a small leak from a bicycle tire and patted beside me, feeling for Ishi. A wall of fabric, warm from my body. No brother. Where was he? "He has nowhere to go. He has no one." A man's voice, clear above the freezing room....We have nothing to hide." "We are hiding him, aren't we? He cannot stay here!" Excerpted from Cold White Sun by Sue Farrell Holler All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Horn Book Review

Kirkus Review

Excerpts

Excerpts

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