Archive - May 20, 2014

Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca (Kenya 1987-89) Groundwood Books $16.95 (hard cover); $9.99 (Kindle) 192 pages 2014 Reviewed by Alana DeJoseph (Mali 1992–94) The book Lost Girl Found begins with a scene of two southern Sudanese girls, Poni and her friend Nadai, eating mangos. It is the time before the second Sudanese Civil War has reached the town of Chukudum in what is now the country of South Sudan. For all of us Peace Corps volunteers who served in a country that had mango trees, I don’t need to explain the visceral memories the words mango season conjure up. For those who have not had the experience, let it suffice to say that mango season is as close to Candy Land as one can get. And with this first scene in the book Leah Bassoff and Laura DeLuca had me instantly hooked. Although Lost Girl Found . . .