A review by lannthacker
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

1.0

I'm not a fan of books in verse in general and that was the first problem. The greater problem was my concern with the portrayal of a young Sudanese refugee as naive to the modern world in the extreme.I find it hard to believe a young man having spent time in refugee camps has never heard of jeans and calls television a "TV machine." At best it was an unsuccessful attempt at telling the story in broken English and at worst poorly researched and first-world, white bias on Katherine Applegate's part.
Middle grade readers, especially fans of books in verse and sad stories, might appreciate this book. It may serve to introduce kids to the plight of global refugees and immigrant experiences in general, though I have a hard time imagining myself recommending it to someone. I would have loved to see an author's note at the least.