A church fire, the result of political violence in Kenya, killed Muchoki and his sister Jata's father, and landed the siblings and their mother in a refugee camp; rampant disease and a dearth of food and water are only a few of the threats they face. After their mother dies from malaria, Muchoki, 13, and Jata, age seven, embark on foot for her hometown of Kikima, in order to avoid being separated and sent to orphanages. Armed only with inspiration gleaned from Muchoki's friend Jomo and a Kamba tale about following a string all the way home, the two trek 100 miles through the wilderness. While readers will feel confident that the siblings will arrive at their destination, numerous menacing challenges, from lions to starvation, create suspense. Walters (The Rule of Three) walked the same route himself, an author's note explains (photos and videos from his journey, as well as context about malaria, Kenya's displacement camps, and more, are available on a companion website), and he captures the hope and need driving Muchoki and Jata through empathic writing and a brisk plot. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

According to a Kamba tale that Muchoki's mother told him, there is an imaginary string that, if you follow it, will always return you home. When the Kalenjin tribal political forces savagely destroyed their Kenyan hometown of Eldoret, Muchoki's father and extended family lost their livelihoods and their lives. Thirteen-year-old Muchoki, his little sister, Jata, and their sick mother walked for days to reach an internal displacement camp with rows upon rows of tents, little clean water, and less porridge. Following that trail of string after their mother dies of malaria, Muchoki, whose name means the one who returns, and Jata set out on foot up the Rift Valley, down to Nairobi, through Kibera, along the Mombasa highway, to the town of Kikima. Throughout the perilous journey, there are times that the hope of that string seemed frayed with despair, and there is a harsh awareness that the children might not be welcomed on their arrival, since their mother left in disgrace, having married a Kikuyu and not a Kamba tribesman. With a meaningful narrative and vivid sense of place, Walters chronicles the children's bravery, the good and evil in people everywhere, and the inevitable homecoming.--Bush, Gail Copyright 2015 Booklist

Gr 4-7-Muchoki is only 13, but already carries a great burden of responsibility. After extreme violence breaks out in his village, those surviving members of his family are relocated to an unfamiliar and unwelcoming refugee camp. His burden, and dire situation, only grow as Muchoki has to assume responsibility for his younger sister Jata and lead them on a long walk to a place they hope to call home. Walters went to great lengths to gain insight and details for Walking Home, which come through in the text. The writing is concise and melodic, capturing the dialogue and attitude of Kenyans. The pacing feels rushed at times, jumping quickly through scenes and lingering in others, but the brevity does keep it ideal for middle grade readers. The book includes real-life issues such as violence, war, illness, and orphans, but also includes themes of hope, family, and generosity. A forthcoming digital companion to the book directs readers to additional material that will enhance the educational experience for young readers.-Megan Egbert, Meridian Library District, ID (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Thirteen-year-old Muchoki, his mother and his little sister live in a refugee camp after fleeing the intertribal bloodshed in their Kenyan hometown of Eldoret that took the life of their Kikuyu father. When their mother succumbs to malaria, Muchoki decides to set out on foot with 7-year-old Jata to reach their mother's relatives in Kambaland, a journey of over 200 kilometers. Canadian author Walters turns his firsthand knowledge of Kenya into rather standard, message-laden but adventuresome fare. On their journey, the children find individuals willing to help and who act out of kindness both in cities and in the wild. There's the requisite encounter with a lion and another with a Maasai warrior who defies the stereotype that Muchoki grew up with. Adults of a variety of tribes reinforce the idea that killing is always wrong, allowing Muchoki to grow beyond his urge to avenge his father's death. Unfortunately, nowhere does the author use a date to tie the story to actual events, a shortcoming for a first-person account based on the very real recent unrest in Kenya. Nonetheless, this is a solid story of hope prevailing over despair.With its dependable truismsvariations on "the longest journey starts with a single step"and its comforting message of the strength of family, this story should resonate with North American middle-grade readers. (Adventure. 9-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

THAT THE WORLD can be a harsh place is unquestionable. For those of us who live in relative comfort, far from lands coping with brutal ethnic conflict and severe deprivation, the images of suffering are heart-wrenching, all the more when children are affected. With little or no firsthand experience of these distant places, how do we make sense of it? How do we help our children do so? For three North American writers, one answer is through literature. Known for her accomplished books featuring the African-American experience, Andrea Davis Pinkney was inspired to research and write "The Red Pencil" after learning about what was happening in Darfur, Sudan, in 2003. Through deceptively simple prose poems, she has 12-year-old Amira tell her story. Living with her father, mother and little sister on their family farm in South Darfur, the artistic Amira expresses herself in ephemeral drawings on the sand, but also yearns to learn to read and write. While her father is supportive, her more traditionally minded mother is not - it is simply not their way. A dutiful daughter, Amira goes along with her mother's wishes. But one day everything changes. Their village is brutally attacked and many are killed, among them Amira's beloved father. She and her sister and mother, along with the rest of the survivors, make a long, hard journey, both physical and emotional, to a refugee camp. There, made mute by the horrors she has experienced, Amira is given a red pencil and uses it to begin to reclaim her voice and life through the making of art. Pinkney's spare verse powerfully communicates this strong young girl's hopes and dreams even as she expresses the awfulness of what she has been through: "Words,/liked tugged teeth./Yanked/from every part of me." Scattered through the elegantly designed book are Shane W. Evans's soft gray illustrations, perfectly supporting Pinkney's text, evoking the sense that they were done by Amira herself. After a 2007 visit to Kenya, the Canadian writer Eric Walters started the Creation of Hope, an organization to support orphans in the rural Mbooni district. Since then he has written several books set in the country. In "Walking Home," inspired by real people and events, Walters places forgiveness at the center of an adventurous story of survival in the midst of ethnic conflict. Having landed in a refugee camp after a horrific event claimed their father, 13-year-old Muchoki and his younger sister Jata set off for their mother's homeland - a place and people they do not know - after she dies of malaria. During this journey of many days the resourceful children manage with the little they have, find food and safe places to sleep, cope with lions and other dangers, and are helped by many people along the way. Having visited a refugee camp, spent time with children like Muchoki and Jata and done the same walk himself, Walters brings a wonderful verisimilitude to the story, as when his child characters are told by a kind Maasai who has taken them under his protection that if an elephant chases them, they should "stop running straight and start running zaggy-zaggy." The Maasai laughs as he explains that since an elephant can't turn very well, their pursuer might tip over. Deborah Ellis, also a Canadian author, is best known for her Breadwinner series, set in Afghanistan, in which she explores children's lives under Taliban rule, especially the limitations faced by girls. In "The Cat at the Wall" she moves to the West Bank - near Bethlehem, to be exact - where the animal of the title lands after a previous life as an American teenager named Clare, who lived in Bethlehem, Pa., and died in an accident that we don't learn about until the end. The cat-that-was-Clare comments wryly on her new circumstances: "It's not right that I should escape lice when I was a girl but have to deal with fleas now that I'm a cat. People who have lice when they're alive should be the ones to get fleas in the afterlife because they already know how to deal with them." Before long she joins two Israeli soldiers who have taken over a seemingly empty house to do surveillance. When Clare leads the jittery young men to an ill and terrified hidden child she has found, they panic briefly until they realize he is not an immediate threat. The soldiers' subsequent idle chat about their own backgrounds - and their attempts, aided by Clare, to do right by the Palestinian child - makes it clear that they are all small cogs in a very big and very complicated political situation. Alternating with these increasingly tense West Bank scenes are Clare's memories of her life as an American teenager. It seems she was a heartless bully of peers and adults alike, especially one very tough teacher who refused to back down no matter how nasty Clare was. By the end, having watched the conditions in and outside the West Bank house drastically deteriorate, Clare has an epiphany about the accident that led to her own death, one that makes her see her teacher-antagonist in a new light: "Context is everything, Ms. Sealand said. Without understanding context, we are going to keep getting things wrong." Without editorializing, Ellis's suspenseful and thought-provoking novel offers a touching, humane context for one of the world's most intractable situations. In order to hope that the future will be different, we have to find ways to help the young people of today do better than previous generations. These authors have found a place to start, creating sensitive mirrors into distant tragedies. Their books will encourage in young readers a desire to understand the plight of less fortunate others who happen to be far away. MONICA EDINGER, a fourth-grade teacher in New York City, is the author of "Africa Is My Home : A Child of the Amistad." She blogs at Educating Alice.