Description: The Good Braider was selected as the 2013 Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year and a book of Outstanding Merit. In spare free verse laced with unforgettable images, Viola's strikingly original voice sings out the story of her family's journey from war-torn Sudan, to Cairo, and finally to Portland, Maine. Here, in the sometimes too close embrace of the local Southern Sudanese Community, she dreams of South Sudan while she tries to navigate the strange world of America - a world where a girl can wear a short skirt, get a tattoo or even date a boy; a world that puts her into sharp conflict with her traditional mother who, like Viola, is struggling to braid together the strands of a displaced life. Terry Farish's haunting novel is not only a riveting story of escape and survival, but the universal tale of a young immigrant's struggle to build a life on the cusp of two cultures.
Brief description:
Terry Farish is the author of The Good Braider, If the Tiger, and The Cat Who Liked Potato Soup, which won a Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books Blue Ribbon. She also directs the literacy program of the NH Humanities Council and is working with Nepali-speaking people from Bhutan to produce a Bhutanese folktale in Nepali and English. She lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Review Quotes:
"Viola's memorable, affecting voice will go far to help students step outside of their own experience and walk a mile in another's shoes."
-- "School Library Journal (starred review)"