A displaced girl’s hope takes wing in this verse novel.
The year is 1972: Ten-year-old Viva opens the story by asserting that her name is not “refugee.” Expelled from their Kampala, Uganda, home by President Idi Amin, Viva’s family, who are of Goan Indian origin, end up in a resettlement camp in England. As Viva, Mummy, and her sister, Anna, try to understand their new lives, they wait impatiently for news of Daddy, who’s the family’s “hope holder” and meant to be joining them soon. They also dream of their eventual departure for Canada. The family’s story is underscored by racism, alienation, and upheaval, even as Viva sometimes discovers “little cups of happiness.” The refugee crisis of the Ugandan Asians is a tragic episode from history that’s rarely explored in children’s fiction. Athaide’s book starts with a lot of promise and has an interesting format that includes photographs, correspondence, and definitions of vocabulary interspersed among the poems (Viva is a logophile; she also has a fondness for Diana Ross). The book is at its strongest when the text describes Viva’s yearning for her family to be reunited and the hatred the refugees faced in a Britain where anti-immigrant feelings were on the rise; these segments are searing and honest. Unfortunately, the execution falters as the book progresses, and the writing in the later portions is not as strong.
Friendship, family, and identity form the core of this heartfelt but uneven story.
—Kirkus Reviews
In 1972, 10-year-old Viva, her mom, and her sister (ethnically Indian and expelled from Uganda) arrive at a refugee camp in England, awaiting her father and emigration to Canada. But Dad is forcibly detained, so the family relocates to Southall in London, where anti-Asian sentiment prevails. Schoolyard taunts, bricks through their window, and racist flyers from the National Front (eerily, “Make Britain Great Again!”) make this placement intolerable. Throughout the family’s travails, Viva is kept afloat by her spunky attitude, her fascination with new words, and her love of Diana Ross’ music. Athaide’s semiautobiographical novel-in-verse is told with understanding and grace, and even readers unfamiliar with Idi Amin’s politics will come away with an appreciation for the difficulties faced by those he displaced. Lighter moments and a few good friends help to mitigate Viva’s trauma, but Britain’s rampant xenophobia comes through unmistakably. The mostly free-verse poems help to move the story along quickly, and sections arranged by month are illustrated with period photos. Heartfelt and deeply satisfying, this should open minds to our shared humanity.
—Booklist
A novel in verse about a girl and her family trying to find their way after being forced to leave Uganda. In 1972, Viva, her mother, and her sister Ana are forced to go to a refugee camp in England while they anxiously await Viva’s father’s arrival from their home country. However, on the day he is supposed to arrive, he does not show. The family is upset, but Viva is determined to find out what happened. On one occasion, she and her sister sneak off to London in hopes of finding him. They get lost and experience firsthand the racism that Viva has only heard about. When they finally get in touch with Viva’s father, it seems like everything will be okay. But she soon realizes there are still sacrifices to be made before her family can be whole again. Viva is a wonderful role model in her resilience with everything she is up against, especially the racism against Ugandan people. A brick is thrown through her family’s apartment building window, newspapers declare “No More Asians,” and people tell Viva to “go back home.” Viva talks with adult characters about these events and questions why there is so much hatred. While the story is a bit slow, readers will be invested in Viva’s quest to find her father and start her life in a new country. Viva is Indian. An author’s note is included. VERDICT Purchase where novels in verse are popular.
—School Library Journal
In 1972, after the president of Uganda exiles people of Indian descent, 10-year-old Viva, her sister, and their mother take refuge at Royal Air Force Greenham camp in England. There, Viva yearns for her father, who remains in Kampala, Uganda. As she acclimates to her new surroundings, Viva embraces the meaning behind her name (“It means/ alive,/ spirited,/ living life”), seeks solace in her love of words and Diana Ross, and befriends two British siblings and an airman. Through Viva’s first-person narration, rendered in engaging verse, Athaide (Orange for the Sunsets) deftly portrays how the protagonist copes with the torpor and anxiety of life in the camp. When the family leaves the base for London with a sponsor, the author steadily seeds intensity, tension, and fear throughout via Viva’s feelings of alienation and her encounters with racism and xenophobia. Intermittent b&w photographs provide historical context, while Viva’s affinity for language adds humor and further learning opportunities throughout, as when she defines collywobbles (“stomach pain or queasiness”) mid-stanza. The quirky cast, combined with this underexplored time period informed by the author’s family history, are engaging, and the narrator herself proves especially memorable. Ages 10–up.
—Publishers Weekly
Viva, a ten-year-old Indian girl from Uganda, is living in a Royal Air Force resettlement camp in England in the fall of 1972 with her Mummy and sister, waiting for her Daddy to rejoin the family. The camp is only meant to be temporary, so when Daddy goes missing, the family is forced to resettle in London while they wait for word. Their efforts to live a normal life there, however, are made difficult by bricks thrown through their window by the National Front, newspaper headlines screaming “NO MORE ASIANS,” and local boys yelling slurs as they walk to school. They are overjoyed when, after months of worry, they finally hear from Daddy and learn he has been sent to America instead of England because of expired papers. While Viva desperately wants her family to be reunited, she wonders if they will be treated with the same vitriol and racism in America that they’ve faced in Britain—or if they’ll have a chance at true happiness. Viva’s voice shines through in this first-person, present-tense verse novel, with heavy use of line breaks creating a breathlessness that reflects her animated personality. Viva is often frustrated with herself for not being able to keep her temper or be a “well-behaved Indian daughter,” but readers will understand her outbursts and be equally indignant at the racism she faces. Historical context is adroitly conveyed by a chatterbox English playmate as well as a Black American airman, and savvy readers will understand the connections Athaide makes to racism in contemporary England and America. This winding, conversational story is grounded by its compelling narrator, who isn’t afraid to say what she believes, and the human connections she makes even while going through heartbreak and sorrow. An author’s note provides more context on the 1972 refugee crisis.
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
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