I am writing this blog entry because I really liked this book and I recently finished it. I am also writing the book review because everyone has to write a book review about their book. The title of this book is A Girl Named Disaster. (source: Goodreads)The author of this book is Nancy Farmer. The copyright was 1996 but it was in Puffin books, 1998. The book was first published in the United States of America by Orchard books, 1996.
Synopsis found in the book:
“While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to an unwanted marriage, Nhamo, an eleven-year-old Shona girl struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits.” (from the book)
Nancy Farmer (author): Nancy Farmer is an American author of children, and young adult books. She has written 3 Newbery honor books. “She subsequently worked in Mozambique and Rhodesia (source: google maps) (modern Zimbabwe), where she studied biological methods of controlling the tsetse fly (wikipedia) between 1975–1978. She met her future husband, Harold Farmer, at the University of Rhodesia (Wikipedia) (now the University of Zimbabwe).”(Wikipedia)
Picture of book cover.. Source: assests
Nancy Farmer (author)………………..Source: TTLG
The story was mostly about how Nhamo struggled to get to Zimbabwe and escape from her village. It was interesting to read about Nhamo struggling. The main character of this story was Nhamo since the story was mostly about her. Some other important character were: her mother, her father, Crocodile guts, Ambuya, and Dr. Masuku. The characters were believable and at one point I felt like this was a real story. Nhamo’s life was full of problems and adventures. She had no maps to guide her to Zimbabwe. She had to hunt for her own food and of course Long Teats (source: bookrags) was a problem. Once Nhamo dreamt that she was possessed by the witch-Long Teats. Nhamo carried a panga (source: dictionary.com) with her that she found on the baboon island. She was unaware that Long Teats lived in it and was trying to posses Nhamo.
Crocodile Guts boat out of Mukwa wood…Source: Glogster
Drowning, starvation, and wild animals were a problem for Nhamo. Living with baboons isn’t easy. Baboons are wild animals. If i were in Nhamos place I would probably hide and starve to death if I found out that baboons were living on the same island as I was on. I found Nhamo as a very brave girl. Nhamo survived such disasters that I can’t even picture myself in. “The girl finds her way to a lush, haunted island and lives alongside a troop of baboons. Daily conversations with spirits combat Nhamo’s loneliness and provide her with sage and practical advice. She makes mistakes, loses heart, and nearly dies of starvation.” Wikipedia. I can relate a little bit of this book to “Hatchet” since Brian also had to survive his plane crash, though I think Nhamo had a much harder time… The author had used the perfect words to describe Nhamo’s situation which is why I found this book really interesting.
Nhamo’s Panga.. Source: Weebly
My favorite character in this story was Ambuya (Nhamo’s grandmother). Ambuya was my favorite character because she was very wise. Also she used to tell very interesting stories.I can’t really relate myself to what Nhamo did, because I have never ran way from my house, but if I was commanded by Ambuya to do so, then I would have. I would have ran away like Nhamo did, because I knew that I would have to work all day I also would have listened to Ambuya because she always respected and loved her dearly. I think if I was where Nhamo was (the baboon island), it would have been a very interesting adventure, although food and shelter would be a problem.
I really liked this book and is one of my favorite books. It was really nice and fun to read all the struggles that Nhamo faced during her horrifying journey. The author uses rich and fascinating vocabulary to describe Nhamo’s environment which is why this is one of my favorite books.
My favorite part of the book was when Nhamo finally sees how her real mother looks like, in the picture. The reason why I like this part is because all of the troubles Nhamo faced had ended and she finally found out how her mother looked like. My least favorite part was when Nhamo’s mothers picture got burned in the fire. The reason why this was my least favorie part was because it was very sad. She had always loved her mother and now when she was sure it was her mother’s picture, it got burned. I cannot relate to how she is feeling because I haven’t lost anything really that precious yet.
SPOILER ALERT>> If I could change something, I would change the ending because I didn’t really like it. Nhamo had struggled so much to get to Zimbabwe so she could meet people who loved her, but I feel like she wasn’t really loved by a lot of people. In the end the result was that no one loved her in her village and in Zimbabwe. Her aunt and her took her in but she wasn’t really wanted. She got a fancy dress and pink plastic shoes (something that she always wanted) but I still feel like this was a happy ending. Even her father wasnt alive which quite surprised me since I was expecting him to be waiting for Nhamo. If I could change the ending I would make it a much happier ending. I would make Nhamo loved as she deserves to be after going through all the disasters.
I would recommend this book to other students of my age because I found it very interesting. This story has a very rich plot I learned a lot about the Shona (source: Guruve) beliefs. I think student 11-15 year old would like and enjoy reading this book, since I enjoyed the book a lot myself.
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