For fans of A Long Walk to Water and Hatchet, this boy’s gripping journey from poverty to empowerment transports readers to modern-day Ghana, into the throes of an extraordinary survival story.
Sena treasures his life in rural Ghana—playing soccer, working the family farm, striving to do his best at school—but he is increasingly aware of his family's precarious security in the face of poverty. When an alluring gentleman comes to town to befriend local teenagers, offering promises of a better future, it only takes one more unsettling turn of events to send Sena into the clutches of human traffickers. Sena's ordeal, escape, and remarkable survival makes for a page-turning adventure of self-discovery and empowerment.
Topics Human trafficking. Survival. Ghana. Africa. Poverty. Akosombo Dam. Volta Lake. Family. Grandfathers and grandsons. Oral storytelling. Memory. Nature and the natural world. Adventure. Coming of age.
Trim Size 7 3/4" x 5 1/2"
JLG Span Fall
Language English
Rights type Print
Publication date 2024-05-13
JLG Release Date Aug 2024
Minimum grade 6
Maximum grade 8
Reading level Middle
Format Print
Upper Middle School Fiction Plus (Grades 6-8)
Upper Middle School Fiction Plus
Upper Middle School Fiction Plus (Grades 6-8)
For Grades 6-8
This collection features fiction titles selected for older middle school readers who are ready for longer, more layered stories that explore growing independence and changing perspective. Selections include realistic and speculative fiction with increased emotional and narrative complexity, offering stories that look beyond immediate experience and invite readers to engage with broader questions about identity, belonging, and the world around them.