From Publishers Weekly
This 1997 Newbery Honor book, which is set in Africa, is both a survival story and a spiritual voyage. "[The heroine] is a stunning creation?while she serves as a fictional ambassador from a foreign culture, she is supremely human. An unforgettable work," said PW in a starred review. Ages 10-14.-- is a stunning creation?while she serves as a fictional ambassador from a foreign culture, she is supremely human. An unforgettable work," said PW in a starred review. Ages 10-14. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9?For Nhamo, an 11-year-old Shona girl living in Mozambique in 1981, life is filled with the traditions of her village people. When family circumstances, a ngozi (angry spirit), and a cholera epidemic force her into a horrible marriage, she flees with only her grandmother's blessings, some gold nuggets, and many survival skills. Still, what should have been a two-day boat trip across the border to her father's family in Zimbabwe spans a year. Daily conversations with spirits help to combat her loneliness and provide her with sage and practical advice. The most incredible leg of her journey is spent on an island where Nhamo closely observes and is warily accepted by a baboon family only to have one of them destroy her shelter and food supply. She makes mistakes, loses heart, and nearly dies of starvation. Even after she arrives in Zimbabwe where she lives with scientists before meeting her father's family, Nhamo must learn to survive in civilization and exorcise the demons that haunt her. A cast of characters, glossary, background information on South Africa and the Shona, and a bibliography ground this novel's details and culture. This story is humorous and heartwrenching, complex and multilayered, and the fortunate child who reads it will place Nhamo alongside Zia (Island of the Dolphins) and Julie (Julie of the Wolves). An engrossing and memorable saga.?Susan Pine, New York Public LibraryCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Eleven-year-old Nhamo invites young listeners to share her adventures in the wilds of Africa as she flees from her village and a planned marriage to a cruel stranger. Along the way, as Nhamo blossoms into a self-assured young woman, listeners grow with her as they gain a new perspective on the rich cultural diversity present in this world. Narrator Lisette Lecat entices audio-travelers to accompany Nhamo on her journey in a masterful reading. Her English accent and easy characterization make the cross-cultural experience even more compelling. Through Lecat's delightful narration, this newest book by a Newbery Award-winning author will not only entertain listeners, but encourage them to value cultural differences. P.H.N. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Gr. 6^-10. Farmer returns to Mozambique and Zimbabwe for a thick and twisting tale that follows Nhamo, a modern-day Shona girl who flees her village rather than marry a cruel man to placate an avenging spirit. Spirits are master players in this story, and to Nhamo they mean life or death. She holds frequent conversations with her dead mother, whom she visualizes by means of a torn-out magazine advertisement; and her treacherous escape by boat to Zimbabwe, where her father's family lives, is peppered with visits from water spirits, as well as the spirit of the dead man who owned her craft. Farmer marvelously evokes the narrow but hopeful atmosphere of Nhamo's existence--her pariah status in the village, her constant struggle for survival in the wilderness, and her initial difficulty in adjusting to a westernized society. Nhamo's relationships with her grandmother and cousin ring true, as do the occasionally humorous stories she tells herself in times of despair. However, the pacing of the complex story line is uneven, and many readers will be unnerved by the overflow of foreign words, which are sometimes explained in footnotes that could seem interruptive. These shortcomings, unfortunately, may limit the audience for an otherwise strong showing. Cast of characters; glossary; appendixes; bibliography. Laura Tillotson


From Kirkus Reviews
Farmer (Runnery Granary, p. 300, etc.) plunges readers deep into South African social and spiritual worlds in this tale of a Shona girl fleeing an arranged marriage. When the muvuki, the witchfinder, declares that Nhamo must marry an unsavory stranger to propitiate a murder victim's spirit, Nhamo gathers her few possessions and steals away in the village's only boat, intending to float up the Musengezi to Zimbabwe and find the father she's never known. It's a perilous journey that tests every ounce of her strength, will, and ingenuity: She has to find food in seasons fat and lean, cope with loneliness, face threats from everything from (elusive, perhaps metaphysical) leopards to land mines. Gathering discorporate (imaginary? not to her) companions as she goes, Nhamo lives in and off the wild for months, ending up at last, after finding her father's grave and enduring a cold reception from his family, with the congenial scientists at a tsetse fly research station. Although Farmer describes the history and culture of the Shona and other groups in an afterword, she hardly needs to; the cultural backdrop is so skillfully developed in her protagonist's experiences and responses that it will seem as understandable--or, in the case of European and Christian practices, as strange--and immediate to readers as it is to Nhamo. This wonderfully resourceful young woman is surrounded by an equally lively, colorful cast, and by removing many of the borders between human and animal, living and dead, Farmer creates a milieu as vivid and credible as readers' own. As rewarding, and as challenging, as The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (1994). (glossary, appendix, bibliography) (Fiction. 11-14) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
Nhamo's mother is dead, and her father is gone. She is a virtual slave in her small African village. Before her twelfth birthday, Nhamo learns that she must marry a cruel man with three other wives--and decides desperately to run away. Alone on the river, in a stolen boat, she is swept into the uncharted heart of a great lake. There, she battles drowning, starvation, and wild animals, and comes to know Africa's mystical, luminous spirits. Nancy Farmer's masterful storytelling makes this a truly spellbinding novel--and readers will be cheering for Nhamo from beginning to end. A gripping adventure, equally a survival story and a spiritual voyage.Nhamo is a stunning creation--while she serves as a fictional ambassador from a foreign culture, she is supremely human. An unforgettable work. --Publishers Weekly, starred review


Card catalog description
While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to escape 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.

ANNOTATION

While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to escape 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 PUBLISHER

While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to escape 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 CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This 1997 Newbery Honor book, which is set in Africa, is both a survival story and a spiritual voyage. "[The heroine] is a stunning creationwhile she serves as a fictional ambassador from a foreign culture, she is supremely human. An unforgettable work," said PW in a starred review. Ages 10-14. (Mar.)

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

This story of the physical and spiritual journey of a young Shona girl will keep readers enthralled until the very last page. Nhamo is faced with an impending marriage to a horrible man who already has a few wives. She decides, with the encouragement of her grandmother, to escape to her father's family in Zimbabwe. It is a trip that should have taken days, but it ends up taking a year. That Nhamo survives and eventually finds a better life for herself is a testament to her courage and character. It is a truly fascinating saga and deserved to be a Newbery Honor book.

The ALAN Review - Teri S. Lesesne

When a cholera epidemic rampages through her village, Nhamo feels partly to blame. After all, a girl whose name translates as "disaster" must have drawn the sickness. Nhamo's family pledges her in marriage to assuage the evil spirits that have caused the illness. Hers will be a loveless marriage: her husband-to-be is more than twice Nhamo's twelve years of age, and so Nhamo flees, seeking refuge with her long-lost father in Zimbabwe. Her trip is fraught with perils, though her adventure serves to strengthen her resolve to become an independent woman. This absorbing tale provides a satisfying knowledge of the culture and customs of Africa in much the same way as Farmer did in The Ear, the Eye and the Arm. This Newbery Honor book and semifinalist for the National Book Award would pair well with Call It Courage and other such stories.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9For Nhamo, an 11-year-old Shona girl living in Mozambique in 1981, life is filled with the traditions of her village people. When family circumstances, a ngozi (angry spirit), and a cholera epidemic force her into a horrible marriage, she flees with only her grandmother's blessings, some gold nuggets, and many survival skills. Still, what should have been a two-day boat trip across the border to her father's family in Zimbabwe spans a year. Daily conversations with spirits help to combat her loneliness and provide her with sage and practical advice. The most incredible leg of her journey is spent on an island where Nhamo closely observes and is warily accepted by a baboon family only to have one of them destroy her shelter and food supply. She makes mistakes, loses heart, and nearly dies of starvation. Even after she arrives in Zimbabwe where she lives with scientists before meeting her father's family, Nhamo must learn to survive in civilization and exorcise the demons that haunt her. A cast of characters, glossary, background information on South Africa and the Shona, and a bibliography ground this novel's details and culture. This story is humorous and heartwrenching, complex and multilayered, and the fortunate child who reads it will place Nhamo alongside Zia (Island of the Dolphins) and Julie (Julie of the Wolves). An engrossing and memorable saga.Susan Pine, New York Public Library

AudioFile - Michael T. Fein