Book Review // Say You're One of Them

Reading is one of the things I enjoy most in life. I believe that it allows one to expand their knowledge while simultaneously providing an opportunity to creatively think about things. Some of my fondest memories from my childhood include my parents reading aloud to my sister and me and spending way too much time looking at the catalogs for book fairs at elementary school. When I went to college, reading for pleasure was put by the wayside as I read (or attempted to read) giant textbooks for classes. Now that I have graduated, I have been able to tackle my never ending list of books I would like to read. I have decided to write reviews on books that I have read in order to allow you to hear about books you might not have picked up on your own and to remind myself why or why not I enjoyed the book.

Say You're One of Them is one of the best books I have ever read. It consists of five short stories of varying lengths written by Uwem Akpan, a Nigerian priest and author. All of the stories take place in countries of Africa and are all written from a child's perspective. They cover a wide range of topics including poverty, child prostitution, human trafficking, religious conflict, murder, and the Rwandan Genocide. These topics are heavy and challenging, and I often felt upset, saddened, angry, and shocked. Not only did the content of the book make it difficult to read, but it also had a bit of French as well as dialogue spoken in the vernacular of the specific country in which the story took place. I found myself having to read over some parts a couple of times or speak words out loud to figure out what a character was saying. However, this book was worth the read despite the challenging topics and difficult words. It allowed me to have a glimpse of various tragedies in Kenya, Benin, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, many of which I did not know much, if anything, about. The fact that it was written from children's perspectives made it all the more poignant. It's sometimes easy to brush off adults' struggles in life because we find a way to justify what they are experiencing; it is hard to do that with children because they are so young and innocent. None of these stories are completely true, but they are all based on history or situations that are currently happening. My mind was opened to the struggles that people have throughout the world, and it made me think about what I can and should do to ensure that these injustices are done away with. I highly recommend reading this book!