Broken Memory

September 1, 2009
Grades 9-12 One million people were killed in the 1994 Rwanda genocide of the Tutsis by the Hutu. This short, spare novel, translated from the French and based on the authors interviews with survivors, tells of the massacre and then the trials and aftermath, all from the viewpoint of a child. Emma is barely five years old when she witnesses her mothers murder, and she flees with the crowds, navigating bodies shot, hacked up, burned, until she finds shelter with a kind old Hutu peasant woman. Nine years later, Emma constantly replays the past. She sees perpetrators on trial and meets others haunted by what they saw and what they did, including a young boy, who betrayed the rebels under torture and is now eaten up with guilt and madness. Even with the stark, clipped prose and the hopeful resolution, when Emma finds the strength to face the past and become a teacher, the gruesome detail is disturbing. Still, the child survivors authentic experience makes this an excellent addition for the high-school Holocaust curriculum(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)