Name: In the Sea There are Crocodiles
ISBN: 9780385534734

Fabio Geda

In a fictional retelling of a true story, ten-year-old Enaiat leaves his small Afghanistan village after the Taliban takes over in 2000, and when his mother is forced to leave him in Pakistan, he endures a five-year ordeal to make his way to Italy.

Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari : a Novel

In the Sea There are Crocodiles

Tracey O’Rourke

This is the novelization of a true story of a boy whose mother smuggled him out of Afghanistan when he was 10 to keep him safe from the Taliban. But then she went back, so it is the story of him, age 10-18, fending for himself, making his way in the world, and making his way from country to country until he eventually settles in Italy. Written in the first person, as if he is telling the reader his life story, it is remarkably matter-of-fact and non-sensationalistic. It is narrated as if this is just normal life, nothing unique about it.

For me, the astounding part of this story is that it happened not a while ago, but in the last decade. His mother takes him from Afghanistan just shortly before 9/11. It is a reminder that while in western society we hardly let our kids leave the house unattended at these ages, there are still, today, children all over the world who have to completely fend for themselves in a very hostile environment. 

I think this would be a great book to give to teens to read, or to read with them. I am very tempted to sit down now and read it again with my son.

daria

Rich

Katie Day

When ten-year-old Enaiatollah Akbari’s small village in Afghanistan falls prey to Taliban rule in early 2000, his mother shepherds the boy across the border into Pakistan but has to leave him there all alone to fend for himself. Thus begins Enaiat’s remarkable and often punish­ing five-year ordeal, which takes him through Iran, Turkey, and Greece before he seeks political asylum in Italy at the age of fifteen. Along the way, Enaiat endures the crippling physical and emotional agony of dangerous border crossings, trekking across bitterly cold mountain pathways for days on end or being stuffed into the false bottom of a truck. But not every­one is as resourceful, resilient, or lucky as Enaiat, and there are many heart-wrenching casualties along the way. Based on Enaiat’s close collaboration with Italian novelist Fabio Geda and expertly rendered in English by an award- winning translator, this novel reconstructs the young boy’s memories, perfectly preserving the childlike perspective and rhythms of an intimate oral history. Told with humor and humanity, In the Sea There Are Crocodiles brilliantly captures Enaiat’s moving and engaging voice and lends urgency to an epic story of hope and survival.

In the Sea There are Crocodiles Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari : a Novel

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