Kek arrives in America on the 'flying boat.' The helping man, Dave, meets him at the airport to take him to live with his aunt and cousin. Kek's father and brother, as well as his uncle, were killed in the war in Sudan. Kek and his mother made it to a refugee camp only to be separated when it too was attacked. Now Kek has to get used to a whole new life. We see his confusion with air so cold it hurts, trees that just 'pretend' to be dead, and the miracle of washing machines, which he learns the hard way are for clothes not dishes. He makes new friends, including an old cow that helps when he misses the cattle he used to tend back home. We also feel Kek's pain as he shares memories of his family and the horrors of war and the refugee camp. Kek's aunt says that, 'Kek finds sun when the sky is dark.' Can he continue to do so as he struggles to maintain hope that his mother will be found and they will be reunited; or will he believe his cousin when he says, 'A man knows when he is defeated.'?
Date read: 5/19/2009
ISBN-10: 0312535635
ISBN-13: 9780312535636
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