Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan

God Grew Tired of Us: A Memoir

John Bul Dau, Michael S. Sweeney · 295 pages

"Lost Boy" John Bul Dau's harrowing experience surviving the brutal horrors of Sudanese civil war and his adjustment to life in modern America is chronicled in this inspiring memoir and featured in an award-winning documentary film of the same name. Movingly written, the book traces Dau's journey through hunger, exhaustion, terror, and violence as he fled his homeland, dodging ambushes, massacres

Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games

Lopez Lomong · 240 pages

This is a story about outrunning the devil and achieving the impossible faith, diligence, and the desire to give back. Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike sponsored athlete on the US Olympic Team. He shares his commitment to keep moving forward and find God in each step.

The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story

Hyeonseo Lee, David John · 320 pages

An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world’s most ruthless and secretive dictatorships – and the story of one woman’s terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom. As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by a secretive and brutal communist regime. Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure t

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom

Yeonmi Park, Maryanne Vollers · 288 pages

"'I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea.' Yeonmi Park was not dreaming of freedom when she escaped from North Korea. She didn't even know what it meant to be free. All she knew was that she was running for her life, that if she and her family stayed behind they would die--from starvation, or disease, or even execution. This book is t

Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard

Mawi Asgedom, Dave Berger · 167 pages

An autobiography of a boy who, at the age of three, fled civil war in Ethiopia by walking with his mother and brother to a Sudanese refugee camp, and later moved to Chicago and earned a scholarship to Harvard University. Includes recipes and discussion questions

Songs of a War Boy

Deng Thiak Adut, Deng Adut, Ben Mckelvey · 384 pages

How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child

Sandra Uwiringiyimana, Abigail Pesta · 296 pages

The author shares the story of her survival during the Gatumba massacre, despite losing her mother and sister, and how after moving to America she found healing through art and activism.

Nujeen: One Girl's Incredible Journey from War‐Torn Syria in a Wheelchair

Nujeen Mustafa · 312 pages

This book tells the inspiring true story of a remarkable young hero: Nujeen Mustafa, a teenager born with cerebral palsy, whose harrowing journey from war-ravaged Syria to Germany in a wheelchair is a breathtaking tale of fortitude, grit, and hope that lends a face to the greatest humanitarian issue of our time, the Syrian refugee crisis.For millions around the globe, sixteen-year-old Nujeen Musta

The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif

Najaf Mazari, Robert Hillman · 262 pages

The Rug-maker of Mazar-e-Sharif is a memoir of Najaf Mazari, an Afghani refugee who travelled to Australia, was detained in Woomera detention centre, went through various trials to gain permanent residency in Australia and eventually opened a rug shop in Prahran, Melbourne, which he still operates today. Najafs story is written by Robert Hillman.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Ishmael Beah · 234 pages

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007) is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. The book is a firsthand account of Beah's time as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone (1990s). Beah was 12 years old when he fled his village after it was attacked by rebels, and he wandered the war-filled country until brainwashed by an army unit that forced him to u

Do They Hear You When You Cry?

Fauziya Kassindja, Layli Miller Bashir, Fauziya Kasinga · 518 pages

The Book of My Lives

Aleksandar Hemon · 214 pages

"Aleksandar Hemon's lives begin in Sarajevo, a small, blissful city where a young boy's life is consumed with street soccer with his casually multi-ethnic group of friends, resentment of his younger sister, and occasional trips abroad with his engineer-cum-beekeeper father, and a young man's life is about poking at the pretensions of the city's elders with American music, bad poetry, and slightly

Stars Between the Sun and Moon: One Woman's Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom

Lucia Jang, Susan McClelland · 288 pages

"An incredible memoir of North Korea by a woman who defied the government to keep her family alive. Born in 1970s North Korea, Lucia Jang grew up in a typical household--her parents worked in the factories and the family scraped by on rationed rice and a small garden. Nightly, she bowed to her photo of Kim Il-Sung. But it was the beginning of a chaotic period with a decade-long famine resulting in

A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea

Eunsun Kim, Sebastien Falletti · 228 pages

"Eunsun Kim was born in North Korea, one of the most secretive and oppressive countries in the modern world. As a child Eunsun loved her country--despite her school field trips to public executions, daily self-criticism sessions, and the increasing gnaw of hunger as the country-wide famine escalated ... Her mother decided to escape North Korea with Eunsun and her sister, not knowing that they were

I Love Yous Are for White People

Lac Su · 249 pages

Heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting, this stirring memoir chronicles one Asian-American immigrant's struggle to find himself--and to transcend the dangers of gang life in Los Angeles.

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Immaculee Ilibagiza · 215 pages

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee's family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other

The Illiterate

Agota Kristof · 44 pages

What Is the What

Dave Eggers · 475 pages

*What Is the What* is the epic novel based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng who, along with thousands of other children--the so-called Lost Boys--was forced to leave his village in Sudan at the age of seven and trek hundreds of miles by foot, pursued by militias, government bombers, and wild animals, crossing the deserts of three countries to find freedom. When he finally is resettled in the Un

Under the Same Sky: A Memoir of Survival, Hope, and Faith

Joseph Kim, Stephan Talty · 273 pages

"A searing story of starvation and survival in North Korea, followed by a dramatic escape, rescue by activists and Christian missionaries, and success in the United States thanks to newfound faith and courage Inside the hidden and mysterious world of North Korea, Joseph Kim lived a young boy's normal life until he was five. Then disaster struck: the first wave of the Great Famine, a long, terrible

Out of Place

Edward Said · 320 pages

"Out of Place is an extraordinary story of exile, a narrative of many departures, a celebration of an irrecoverable past. A fatal medical diagnosis in 1991 convinced Edward Said that he should leave a record of where he was born and spent his childhood, and so with this memoir he rediscovers the Arab landscape of his early years - "the many places and people [who] no longer exist....Essentially a

Infidel

Ayaan Hirsi Ali · 353 pages

"Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant.--From publisher description."--From source other than the Library of Congress

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan

Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak, Judy A. Bernstein · 311 pages

Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea

Sungju Lee, Susan Elizabeth McClelland · 325 pages

Every Falling Star, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is the intense memoir of a North Korean boy named Sungju who is forced at age twelve to live on the streets and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. Sungju richly re-creates his scabrous story, depicting what it was

The Complete Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi · 352 pages

From inside front cover: The story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a ... loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private and public life in a coutnry plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming -- both sweet and terrible; and, fina