Girl Who Smiled Beads (Wamariya) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
(Starred review) [N]ot a conventional story about war and its aftermath [but] a powerful coming-of-age story in which a girl explores her identity in the wake of a brutal war that destroyed her family and home. Wamariya is an exceptional narrator and her story is unforgettable.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) This beautifully written and touching account goes beyond the horror of war to recall …a child trying to make sense of violence and strife.… [T]he narrative flows from Wamariya's early experience to her life in the United States with equal grace. A must-read. —Gricel Dominguez, Florida International Univ. Lib., Miami
Library Journal


In her prose as in her life, Wamariya is brave, intelligent, and generous. Sliding easily between past and present, this memoir is a soulful, searing story about how families survive.
Booklist


Record of a childhood in flight from war and terror.… Not quite as attention-getting as memoirs by Ismail Beah or Scholastique Mukasonga, but a powerful record of the refugee experience all the same.
Kirkus Reviews