How Dare the Sun Rise, Sandra Uwiringiyimana
How Dare the Sun Rise, Sandra Uwiringiyimana
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How Dare the Sun Rise
Memoirs of a War Child

Author: Sandra Uwiringiyimana, Abigail Pesta

Narrator: Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Unabridged: 6 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 05/16/2017


Synopsis

Junior Library Guild Selection * New York Public Library's Best Books for Teens * Goodreads Choice Awards Nonfiction Finalist * Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books for Teens: Nonfiction * 2018 Texas Topaz Nonfiction List * YALSA's 2018 Quick Picks List  * Bank Street's 2018 Best Books of the Year“This gut-wrenching, poetic memoir reminds us that no life story can be reduced to the word ‘refugee.’"" —New York Times Book Review“A critical piece of literature, contributing to the larger refugee narrative in a way that is complex and nuanced.” —School Library Journal (starred review)This profoundly moving memoir is the remarkable and inspiring true story of Sandra Uwiringiyimana, a girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who tells the tale of how she survived a massacre, immigrated to America, and overcame her trauma through art and activism.Sandra was just ten years old when she found herself with a gun pointed at her head. She had watched as rebels gunned down her mother and six-year-old sister in a refugee camp. Remarkably, the rebel didn’t pull the trigger, and Sandra escaped.Thus began a new life for her and her surviving family members. With no home and no money, they struggled to stay alive. Eventually, through a United Nations refugee program, they moved to America, only to face yet another ethnic disconnect. Sandra may have crossed an ocean, but there was now a much wider divide she had to overcome. And it started with middle school in New York.In this memoir, Sandra tells the story of her survival, of finding her place in a new country, of her hope for the future, and how she found a way to give voice to her people.

About Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Sandra Uwiringiyimana is co-founder and director of partnerships and communications at Jimbere Fund, an organization that aims to revitalize distressed communities in Congo by investing in women. Since her family’s resettlement in 2007, Sandra has fought hard to call for justice for the Gatumba massacre and has become a voice for women and girls, refugees and immigrants, and forgotten people like the Banyamulenge Tribe. In telling her story, Sandra has shared the world stage with Angelina Jolie, Hillary Clinton, and Tina Brown at the Women in the World Summit. She addressed the United Nations Security Council at the request of Ambassador Samantha Power to plead with world leaders to act on the pressing issue of children in armed conflict. Sandra is finishing her studies in New York City. 

About Abigail Pesta

Abigail Pesta is an award-winning journalist who has lived and worked around the world, from New York to London to Hong Kong. Her investigative and feature reporting has appeared in global publications, including Cosmopolitan, the New York Times, Marie Claire, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Glamour, the Atlantic, New York magazine, and many others.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mara on February 07, 2022

What an incredibly moving and thought provoking story! I hesitate to even give this a star rating, because it is a story that I really think anyone would benefit from hearing, particularly teens. My tears in this book flowed FREELY......more

Goodreads review by Jenna on July 18, 2017

3.5 I feel like a cruel person for rating it 3 stars (though I would clarify it is more of a 3.5), however, in the end, I have to rate this as a piece of writing, and not the author's experience. Also, I do generally read novels, so perhaps I am also judging this from a fictional standpoint, not nonf......more

Goodreads review by Bookishrealm on April 13, 2017

I was approved for this book for review. All thoughts are my own. This was such a powerful book! I loved it, I mean I really loved it! To hear what Sandra has been through was heart breaking, but it also opened up my eyes to other atrocities that plague the world and how they go unnoticed or forgott......more

Goodreads review by St. Gerard on December 30, 2016

Finished the ARC of this and I couldn't put it down. Refugee Sandra details her family's flight from the war torn Congo and their struggles as immigrants living in an urbanized landscape of America. Told with brutal honesty and an insightful look into the world as an outsider looking in, it is certa......more

Goodreads review by Leigh on May 22, 2017

More reviews at Mrs. ReaderPants. REVIEW: Though the subject matter was incredibly sad and violent, the conversational first-person narrative made this easy and engaging to read. I love Sandra's quiet power in how she compares her life in The Democratic Republic of the Congo and her new life as a mid......more