A Girl Named Disaster

by Nancy Farmer

Nhamo is a virtual slave in her African village in 1981. Before her twelfth birthday, Nhamo runs away to escape marriage to a cruel husband, and spends a year going from Zimbabwe to Mozambique. Alone on the river in a stolen boat, swept into the uncharted heart of a great lake, she battles drowning, starvation, wild animals.

Orchard collectible editions have new designs, author prefaces and discussion guides.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Africa, Adventure, Survival, Middle Grade

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Nancy was born in 1941 in Phoenix and grew up in a hotel on the Arizona-Mexico border where she worked the switchboard at the age of nine. She also found time to hang out in the old state prison and the hobo jungle along the banks of the Colorado River. She attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, earning her BA in 1963. Instead of taking a regular job, she joined the Peace Corps and was sent to India (1963-1965). When she returned, she moved into a commune in Berkeley, sold newspapers on the street for a while, then got a job in the Entomology department at UC Berkeley and also took courses in Chemistry there. Restless, again, she decided to visit Africa. She and a friend tried to hitchhike by boat but the ship they'd selected turned out to be stolen and was boarded by the Coast Guard just outside the Golden Gate Bridge. Nancy eventually got to Africa on a legal ship. She spent more than a year on Lake Cabora Bassa in Mozambique, monitoring water weeds. Next she was hired to help control tsetse fly in the dense bush on the banks of the Zambezi in Zimbabwe. Part of the time she spent in the capital, Harare, and was introduced to her soon-to-be husband by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. He proposed a week later. Harold and Nancy now live in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona on a major drug route for the Sinaloa Cartel. This is the setting for The Lord of Opium. They have a son, Daniel, who is in the U.S. navy.
Nancy's honors include the National Book Award for The House of the Scorpion and Newbery Honors for The Ear, the Eye and The Arm, A Girl Named Disaster and The House of the Scorpion. She is the author of nine novels, three picture books and a number of short stories. Her books have been translated into 26 languages.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know how Hatchet is about a boy who has to survive in the wilds of Canada? A Girl Named Disaster is kind of like that, except instead of a 13-year-old boy from NYC, it's about an approximately 13-year-old girl from Mozambique. While Brian is angsty because his parents are divorced and he has to spend the summer in Canada with his dad, Nhamo doesn't have parents, because her father took off before she was born and her mother was killed by a leopard when she was a toddler. Instead, she's been raised by her aunt, who always hated her mom and treats Nhamo like a slave. Only Nhamo's grandmother actually cares about her. When the family decides to marry Nhamo into a life of even more misery, her grandmother encourages her to run away to find her father's family.

My son is reading this book as part of his 7th grade language arts curriculum, along with a social studies unit on modern Africa. I've seen several comments that this is a "girl book," because the protagonist is female and there's mention of menstruation. (Deep breath.) This is a book that everyone can enjoy, that places the reader in the shoes (actually, Nhamo doesn't have shoes through most of the book) of someone from another part of the world, a completely different culture. Although it's set in 1981, after Mozambique won their independence from Portugal, Nhamo's family lives much the same way as their ancestors did a hundred years before that. It's both an immersive learning experience and an entertaining read.

Edit: Son #2 read this as an advanced 6th grader and also really enjoyed it, reinforcing my statement that this book is not. just. for. girls.

[Tricia Lenington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!! I highly recommend this one. I think it's a great way to understand a little better the complexities of African beliefs and tribal life. It's not a "religion" to them, it's a way of life (believing everything has a spirit, for example).

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

i personally hated this book. although i read it with a class i truely hated it. i think even if i read it by myself i still would not have liked it. its not that the writing is bad its just that it goes on forever and you just get tired of it.

[Editt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have gotten a 3 or even a 4 if it had continued how it started. For example I enjoyed Nhamo's insights on why her cousin was so patient and good tempered (wouldn't you be if you got to sit in the shade).I liked getting to know the culture through her family relations but once she started journeying on her own thats where I felt like I was trudging through the book. The journeying lasted way too long (reminded me of Cast Away). When she finally came back to human habitation I wanted more development between her and the characters. I wanted more of what we had at the beginning. The main gist of my review is this: Almost liked it but not quite.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I am she who lifts mountains
When she goes to hunt
Who wears a mamba for a headband
And a lion for a belt
Beware!
I swallow elephants whole
And pick my teeth with rhinoceros horns
Let them hear my words!
Nhamo is coming
And her hunger is great."

—Nhamo, "A Girl Named Disaster", P. 101

"(P)eople are like plants. Some shoot up like weeds, and some are slow like fruit trees. In the end, the fruit trees are worth more."

—Ambuya, "A Girl Named Disaster, P. 21

I would give three and a half stars to "A Girl Named Disaster".
There are few authors out there who are capable of writing an engrossing, gripping young adult novel with the emotion and intensity that always marks the stories of Nancy Farmer.
"A Girl named Disaster" finds its perfect balance as a coming-of-age story, a loving testament to the power and richness of the Shona people and their beliefs, and as a nail-biting suspense tale about a girl out on her own at the age of eleven, with seemingly no one who cares about her in existence anymore and nothing but a wan hope for a faraway possible future as her guide.

"Rather, there was a space between one person and the next. It was as though a necklace had come apart and each bead rolled separately across the floor. The village had broken somewhere deep inside..."

—A Girl Named Disaster, P. 41

"Spirits were thin fare, compared to people. They didn't breathe comfortingly in the middle of the night, and they couldn't hold her in their arms".

—A Girl Named Disaster, P. 139

The reader who picks up this book will find himself taken very quickly into the world of tribal Africa and all of its many, varied customs. Some of these customs will fascinate the reader, others of them will seem offensive or even heartless and cruel to the American mind, but all of them are sure to be eye opening, and they serve perfectly to advance the story and allow us to see the entire person that makes up our protagonist, Nhamo. It is perhaps in this area that Nancy Farmer succeeds most magnificently, creating a character that we are given access to know as well (or better) than we could know any real human being who stood before us, and with whom we could converse. Nhamo, herself, is the mark of a master story teller, a writer who is able to make events that are as far away from the lives of most of her readers as could possibly be keep a sense of raw immediacy about them.
Ultimately, the reason that I see for the marvelous artistic success of "A Girl Named Disaster" is the resounding knowledge of humanness that Nancy Farmer has, and the way that she is able to relay it through her characters so gracefully, and in ways that take us by surprise and remind us once again of just what it means to be human. The thoughts and feelings of Nhamo will echo deeply in the soul of any person, connecting with one's own personal emptiness and loneliness and need for love to make the story of Nhamo truly as powerful as it is. In the end, this is what I see as the "secret" of Nancy Farmer's success, and I feel honored to be allowed to make the journey alongside Nhamo.


"(E)ven the best bowl of porridge has a few weevils in it."

—A Girl Named Disaster, P. 288

"The paths of the body are long, but the paths of the spirit are short."

—A Girl Named Disaster, P. 293

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A girl's book -- boys likely would not relate to the very female nature of this book. Nhamo (whose name means Disaster) lives in the African country of Mozambique in the early 1980s. The native religion and customs of the time will be strange to a youth reader today. Because the spirits tell her family that she is the cause of a cholera epidemic, they send her to be the fourth wife of a cruel man in another town. She runs away, and much of the book consists of her adventures on a boat and on islands in Lake Cabora Bassa.

Some of the adventures were a girl-in-jungle version of My Side of the Mountain, but Nhamo's constant communication with various spirits of her religion make the adventure a bit peculiar much of the time. Nhamo also becomes a woman during this voyage, which could make male readers uncomfortable.

[Ami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took me forever to read. I don't know why? I guess I wasn't reading 20 minutes everyday. Oh well. But, it is a really good book. Interesting.

[Annelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Farmer's "A Girl Named Disaster" brings us inside the head of Nhamo, a girl living in a small Mozambique village. Her mother had died when she was very young, and her father had disappeared. Even though her aunt and uncle took her into their hospitality, it is very clear to Nhamo that she is not wanted there. When disease strikes the village and her family is forced to visit the Muvuki, Nhamo is faced with alarming changes. Determined to run away to find her father's family, she embarks alone to Zimbabwe. This book follows her on this journey.

Personally, I think the strongest thing about this book is its captivating setting. Nancy Farmer uses vivid vocabulary to describe Nhamo's surroundings. It made this book both captivating, interesting, and amazing. However, I believe that the journey continued for a prolonged period of time. Nhamo was either constantly starving or thriving. The danger she was always in lost its previously good effect after it happened so many times. It became incredibly boring.

Also, I didn't quite like the ending. It was sort of bittersweet, and I wished for a very happy ending. It seemed that Nhamo nearly died just to be treated like scum again!! They didn't love her in the village, and the didn't love her in Zimbabwe either. I felt like I wanted all her hard work to be paid off. Maybe I was just extremely attracted to her character.

Overall, this was a good book. I was never clear if the spirits were in her head or real, however. Was this book meant to display the culture of Zimbabwe, or was it a book in which Nancy Farmer was promoting the belief of spirits? This was extremely confusing for me, and I am sure it was for many other readers as well. Furthermore, I got confused about who she thought was "Mother". Was it the Doctor? Was it Sister Gladys? Was it the mother in the magazine? I wasn't sure.

I loved learning about the culture of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. I have never read anything like this book before, and, even though it has some faults, I recommend it to all.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the young girl Nhamo who leaves her little village in Mozambique in order to find her father's family in Zimbabwe to avoid an impending marriage to a cruel man. She gets stuck on an island and is forced to figure out how to survive on her own while also receiving guidance from the spirit world. By far my favorite part of this book was its rich depiction of folklore. I learned a lot about the beliefs of people from Mozambique and Zimbabwe which I had never even heard of before. For this reason I would encourage young adults to read the novel because I think it would introduce them to a culture they know little to nothing about. My big problem with this book, though, was the pacing. I thought some parts were too long and moved way too slow, especially the beginning and when she is trapped on the island. I felt like some of these details were not necessary to the story. It wasn't until the very end of the book that I thought the pace picked up. I also thought it was unrealistic that Nhamo was very juvenile in her thinking in comparison to her strength to live by herself for so long.

[Alexandra Maag · Rating 5 out of 5]

To tell the truth, I hadn't expected to love this book as much as I did. However, I found myself in a completely new world. The novel was about a young African girl named Nhamo, which means "disaster" in the language of her people. Ever since her mother died, Nhamo has been treated like an outcast and made to do all the chores for her aunt and uncle, while their daughter sits and does what she wants. In this inspiring tale, Nhamo is told by her grandmother (who is the only person in the village besides her soft, sheltered cousin who cares for her) to leave her village and flee to Zimbabwe to find her father's family and escape an arranged marriage to a bad-tempered older man. As she travels the river, Nhamo is forced to fend for herself and take desperate measures to survive.

[Rue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very slow at first but it quickly turned into a fast-paced one as Nhamo started her journey. I think a theme of this book is to be courageous. Nhamo shows courage in many different parts of the book, like when she hunts a dassie. Dassies can be very big, and Nhamo was slightly scared of them, but she manages to hunt one on her first try. I give this a four out of 5 stars because I think that many parts of this book connected with religion and I liked to hear the myths which were very interesting.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Girl Named Disaster is typical young adult lit fare as far as the main components go. Absent parents, family members who don't treat Nhamo well, feeling marginalized in all areas of life, etc. But she has extraordinary powers that set her apart from her peers. What gives this book its richness is its setting.

Nhamo's family lives in a remote village in Mozambique. Nhamo's grandmother advises her to run away when her family plans on giving her in marriage to the brother of a man her father murdered as recompense. Armed with nothing more than a leaky boat, some supplies, and the company of the spirits of her ancestors, Nhamo sets out to find refuge with her father's family in Zimbabwe.

Nhamo's journey takes her through a river, to several islands, into the spirit world, and eventually she lands with people who lead her to her father's family.

The only problem I have with this book is the ending. I feel that in a way it communicates that to be happy one must adopt western ways of dress and behavior. As she moves into the sophistication of her father's family, she marvels at where she once was, almost with pity on her old self. And yet, her old self was marvelously resourceful and incredibly in tune with her culture and beliefs. The magic of the story comes from her connection with the spirit world and it almost feels as if that part of her is abandoned towards the end.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming of age story in a well researched setting with a very strong female main character. Africa (Mozambique and Zimbabwe) and the spirits of Shona tribesmen play a strong role in this solid adventure story.

The basic plot is a girl whose parents are both gone, made to labor for her family in a traditional Shona village. When the story of her father killing a man comes out, some other villagers believe the victim's restless spirit curses the village. Their solution is to marry little Nhamo off to the victim's brother, who is described as diseased and ugly. Her grandmother, one of the few characters that is good to her, encourages her to run away to her father's family in Zimbabwe. Of course, a simple few days travel turns into many months adventure when things don't go the way she plans.

Nhamo is a strong character, and the spirits she interacts with help her in the adventure. When anxious or bored, she tells stories - many of them Shona folk tales. This works well, creating many stories within the main tale.

Read this book aloud with my daughter, and my only regret is a decent pronunciation guide. The book contains maps, a list of characters, and a glossary for unfamiliar terms. It concludes with a history of Shona and Mozambique culture and politics, along with a solid bibliography. I concur with my daughter's rating of 4 stars, and enjoyed this few weeks.

[Jennifer Artha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book with the whole English class. At first I was totally into this book, and i couldn't stop reading and went straight through chapter 18. While reading till the mid part of the book, suddenly I felt really bored with the story, it's not that i didn't like it... it's just that it was pretty boring with her just staying on an island and got stranded over and over. There was also some pretty disgusting things that were in the book that is supposed to be read by girls, because I could see some of the boys smiling while reading those parts. The first parts of the book was really interesting and i think that if the story went on like the first parts, i would've gave it a 4 star. I guess it's just not the type of book that i would like. Don't get mad at me, just my opinion >.<

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is ANYTHING but torture!
Nancy Farmer has really outdid herself this time! This book truly represents the rights that all children possess since birth to have family, to have freedom, to have justice.
Nhamo, forced to courtship with a man she barely knows, flees her village in a stolen boat on a voyage to freedom. And with the assistance of her mother's spirit, a dead man and two water spirits, Nhamo doesn't have to face it all alone. With her courage, nature, spirit (and spirits) and faith, Nhamo sails on an epic journey to freedom- and more importantly, to her father.
A great book that you just CAN'T afford to miss!!!

(And, dude, I have a problem with the star ratings. I was changing my review again because I've just finished the book, and then I clicked on the stars, and they turned into boxes so don't be surprised if those stars suddenly disappear.)

[Stephanie A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best thing since Julie of the Wolves or Island of the Blue Dolphins. I opened it up and there was just no stopping as the adventure sucked me in with more strength than a tornado.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this after our Africa unit in homeschool this year. Had a really neat experience: as I read the first few chapters, I had a serious case of deja vus. As we continued reading, I remembered certain scenes and images. Then the whole memory came to me riding on the tails of those hints: I picked this up in grade school and became obsessed with it! Or, part of it.

This book includes supernatural entities from Shona folklore and intense family drama, of the jungle village in Mozambique variety. This rich and at times frightening (child brides! vengeful spirits! leopards stalking you in the night!) foreign culture was fascinating to me as a grade schooler. I devoured the first half of the book, skimmed starting around halfway, and skipped most of the ending. Nhamo's ending, to me, was safer but less attractive than her beginning. It was as if her ending were in pastels, while the beginning burst with rich color.

As a more mature reader, I see what Farmer was doing. She was paying homage to the rich culture from which Nhamo originated while acknowledging that there are parts that were not good--like how Nhamo was to be sacrificed to marriage that was basically slavery to appease the supposed spirit of a man her father murdered. Farmer also honestly shows the uneven effects of progress in Mozambique and Zimbabwe: yes, there are better opportunities for education and scientific progress against disease; and yes, there are also racism, violent wars, and greed. It's a novel that takes it all in.

Is it effective? I think my own experience reading this book as a grade schooler reflects my own kids' responses. They wished Nhamo could go back to Baboon Island rather than live in a joyless house with a family that doesn't love her (but with her own bank account and some scientist friends at Efifi). There's something strange going on if they'd rather Nhamo be back in danger than living in modern comfort. "Great God! I'd rather be / A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn," Wordsworth wrote of the soul-killing effects of Enlightenment materialism, and I thought often of those lines during the end of this book. If the "primitive" culture with its spirits and cholera feels more attractive than a bank account and learning to type from a scientist, if the target audience can't get the attraction of the heroine's ending, can this book be considered a success?

I say yes, in a literary sense. This book is out to be literature that also educates people about Africa, not a brainless middle grade pulp read (with my apologies to Upside Down Magic, etc. I love you too, but in a different way). It's a coming of age story, and part of coming of age is having to acknowledge that a bank account in Zimbabwe is healthier than living on an island full of baboons and water spirits. It's acknowledging what is actually good rather than what we wish to be good. And Farmer shows how Nhamo balances her cultural heritage with her modern progress. She's doing the best anyone could hope for. It's not the ending we want as kids, but it might be the ending we need.

I wrote this essay because I am whatever a verbal processor is, but with written words. I am a word processor. Wait, no, that's not--Anyway. I hope you have enjoyed my spiritual journey through my own childhood memories and my reconciling with the ending. I'm glad I (finally) gave this book the attention it deserved.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but moved along very slowly

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Would read it again

[Nataly Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although a lot of text on the pages I liked this book. There were parts where the story felt like it was taking forever to progress. I enjoyed finding out Nhamo's origins as she escapes to see her father.

[Boyan Cheng · Rating 4 out of 5]

lausd

[Fatemeh Golsorkhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

داستان های کوتاه و افسانه های قدیمی که لابه لای قصه اصلی تعریف میشدن جالب بودن

[Lacy Dohner · Rating 3 out of 5]

By eleven, Nhamo has already lived a difficult life. Her mother is dead and her father was banished in disgrace when she was an infant, leaving her to be raised by resentful relatives in a rural village in Mozambique. The only person who truly cares for her is Ambuya, her grandmother, frail in body but strong in spirit. When a plague sweeps the village, a spirit doctor rules that the only way to appease the angry spirit is to give Nhamo in marriage to a much older man in another village. With Ambuya's encouragement, Nhamo runs away to Zimbabwe to find the father she has never met. But the journey, which should take a few days, is harder than Nhamo could have ever imagined. She is swept off course and forced to make a home on an island in the middle of an enormous lake. There she survives for months, learning to live off the land, finding an uncomfortable peace with the assorted wildlife around her, communing with African spirits both friendly and not, and wondering if she will ever make it to a place where she is truly wanted.

The only reason I gave only three stars is because survival stories are not really my preference. However, I have every respect for Ms. Farmer and this book, which is a well-deserved Newbery Honor book. If you are a fan of Hatchet, Julie of the Wolves, and Island of the Blue Dolphins, you will likely find this to be a hidden treasure. Ms. Farmer has done an extensive amount of research and spent a significant amount of time living in Africa, so the detail is beautiful. Nhamo is a heroine easy to root for, and her character development and growth over the course of the book is subtle and natural. The book did seem to drag a little, especially in the second half, but overall it was a beautiful and exotic read.

Though it's marketed as a children's book, I'd be careful giving it to younger children. For one thing, genitalia is discussed openly and in detail, especially female genitalia since Nhamo is a girl. Some women go topless and their breasts are described (objectively, never in a sexual sense), and Nhamo gets her first period during the course of the story. Also, child marriage and domestic violence is a normal part of life in Nhamo's world. The biggest caution, however, is that Nhamo has regular contact with the spirit world. It's not portrayed as fantasy, humor, or hallucination. The spirits of dead family members and some slightly creepy water spirits keep her company on the island and tell her things she couldn't have known otherwise. Near the end of the book, she is possessed by an evil spirit that causes her to have violent outbursts and must be exorcised by a group of Vapostori (a charismatic African Christian denomination). All of this may be scary or confusing for younger children who read the book without an adult with whom to discuss it.

[Joel Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer African traditions, religion, female
"coming of age," race, nature, class,
globalization, National Book Award
Finalist

When I was in 6th grade I read The Hatchet, an exciting book about a solitary boy in the middle of the frozen Canadian tundra who survives alone for a long period of time. It was one of my favorite books growing up. A Girl Named Disaster reminds me a great deal of Gary Paulsen's thrilling novel, but just change the boy with Nhamo, the Canadian tundra with the African jungle, and the hatchet with a large knife/sword and the reader has Nancy Farmer's genius work. This novel tells the story of Nhamo, which means "Disaster," so called by her family because she was conceived out of wedlock by her beautiful, intelligent mother, and her ambitious but naive father. After the death of her mother by a leopard, Nhamo's aunts and grandmother take care of her, but before she is sent off to be married to a strange man with multiple wives by a sort of Witch doctor, Nhamo's grandmother Ambuya sends her off to Zimbabwe to find her father's family and escape her terrible fate. With a deserted boat, supplies, and gold nuggets given to her by Ambuya, Nhamo sets off to Zimbabwe, which ends up being a journey of joy, pain, hardship, suffering, maturity, and spiritual communion. In the end, Nhamo finds more than her father's family, but herself and a society that though different could become for what she, her mother, and her grandmother all hoped.

This novel was entertaining, but somewhat slow at times. I found myself skipping Nhamo's stories or her daily searches for food or supplies while she was on the island. However, from the time she left the island until the end, Farmer rolled on until I turned the page to read more and I found that it ended. The ending was different than I expected, but nonetheless interesting. I do not know how I or Nhamo feels about her new society, especially with all of the labor skills she learned while in the jungle, but clearly she moved up and found education and her potential place in society. I loved the description of her adventures on the river, on the islands, and in the jungle. It reminded me of my games and imagination I used when I was young, searching as Indiana Jones would for lost civilizations while dodging crocodiles and making friends with monkeys. Therefore, I would recommend this book to a 5th grader and above.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter read this in school and said I MUST read it. I liked it as well. It is like Island of the Blue Dolphins (which I also loved): an adolescent girl forced to survive on her own. This one takes place in Mozambique, and the girl is Shona. I really felt that I was inside this girl, her thoughts and feelings were so well portrayed. While she is alone she talks to spirits: her deceased mother, the deceased owner of the boat she is using and the water spirits. The fun part is that they talk back and she learns from them. It is also fun to read her perspective of the white people she encounters, Portugese, English, and Afrikaner. My view of the world isn't necessary any more "true" than hers. The girl has a tendency to get mad at things that don't go the way she wants (as adolescents are prone to do and adults sometimes too!) Like when her boat crashes on a rock and she yells at the rock for being there in the river "where a rock shouldn't be". In the end she comes to realize that some of the things that happened to her which seems terrible at the time actually helped to save her. Were the spirits looking out for her, or was she delerious and insane? In the end, the English scientist decides to withold judgement on that question... I am glad that there is a summary of the history of Mozambique and Zimbabue at the end of the book. That way I could put the story into context. I learned about the culture and way of thinking of the Shona people. It seems like it is true to their culture.

[Ayushi · Rating 5 out of 5]

'I am Nhamo, a tree full of fruit,
Not a weed,
Pay attention, little girls!
I am now a woman
And allowed to scold you.
My pots will be stronger, my baskets finer,
The roofs of my house will not fall in,
I am Nhamo, a mighty woman,
For whom crossing a measly river was not enough!'

I can't describe the extend up to which this book has touched and stirred my heart and soul. There is something very subtle about the protagonist Nhamo, she is a low-key rebel, who questions everything. She is a bit clueless too, but that disappears once she runs away from home. She is a full-fledged rebel, an adventurer, a risk taker and this is what I absolutely love about her!
Nhamo is one of those girls who learn by experience...and their experience becomes inspiration to readers like me who just don't want to give up in life! Nhamo suffered, almost died but her desire to meet her family and wriggle out of her situation triumphed above her misfortune. Imagine if she gave up and was married to the evil man... knowing that all this was just a plot to get rid of her, we would have never got a story where she risks everything and teaches us what it means to strive for what you believe in.

I really liked the message at the end, make women financially independent if you really want to see them progress. I really likes the books that leave me teary eyed at the end... and usually those tears are happy tears; tears of pure joy and satisfaction. 'A Girl Named Disaster' will forever remain one of those motivational and satisfying books that I absolutely love to read over and over again!

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

(CIP) While journeying to Zimbabwe, eleven-year-old Nhamo struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits

Review: This substantial, well-researched novel begins in a Mozambiquan village and surrounding settlements, where an engaging plot—involving the 11-year-old protagonist, Nhamo, and a cast of reasonably well-drawn supporting characters—begins to unfold. When Nhamo runs away to escape an unwanted marriage, she enters into a survival adventure on deserted islands in a dam-created lake, which will appeal to fans of Julie of the Wolves and Island of the Blue Dolphins. This part of the story is enriched by a believable and respectful portrait of Nhamo’s relationship with the spirit world of the Shona people. The final chapters include a somewhat sketchy glimpse of life in a modern Zimbabwian city, but bring the book to a satisfying conclusion. A hefty, satisfying story for older readers. Gr. 6-9.

(SLJ) "... humorous and heartwrenching, complex and multilayered ... An engrossing and memorable saga"

(Booklist) " the pacing of the complex story line is uneven, and many readers will be unnerved by the overflow of foreign words ... These shortcomings, unfortunately, may limit the audience for an otherwise strong showing."

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't my favorite book I've read. It was really long, and I had a hard time getting into it; in fact, I don't think I ever just fell into the book like I do with others. A Girl Named Disaster tells the story of Nhamo, an African girl who lives in a village with her family. Taking place when some of Africa—like Zimbabwe—is Westernized, Nhamo undergoes a journey of escape, survival, and self-discovery. She leaves her village to escape an arranged marriage mandated by the spirits, and spends several months on her own battling starvation, dehydration, and various animals.

I think one of the hardest things I found about this book was the shaky balance between the spirits and the world I know. Sometimes it seemed like the story was almost fantasy-like, with the spirits being real, but then that world clashed with the "real" world, and I didn't know what to think. Maybe that's just a cultural difference I have a hard time identifying with. I also didn't really like Nhamo that much, and when I don't like the main character, I have a hard time enjoying the book (though there have been a few exceptions to that rule). Farmer's writing is good, but this particular book was just very long. I think she could have told the same story in a smaller amount of space and it would have been a bit more enjoyable (for me anyway).

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book I read for my daughter's school participation in Book Bowl. This is a 1997 Newberry Honor book. I listened to the unabridged audio cassettes narrated by Lisette Lecat.

The story is a coming of age for Nhamo, an African girl from Mozambique, who is wrongly accused of witchcraft and required by her family to marry a very bad man who beats his current 3 wives and has an unnamed disease. We know this from the backpage blurb. However, it took several cassettes to get to that point, as well as 80 pages into the novel. On instruction by her grandmother, Nhamo steals a boat and heads to Zimbabwe. The majority of the story is Nhamo's adventure on her own trying to get from her village in Mozambique to her father's family in Zimbabwe.

As for the narration, it is done by Lisette Lecat. My initial impression was she was a British woman, and the feel was all wrong. It improved over the telling of the story. Ms. Lecat is South African born, but I think the novel would have been better served by an African woman narrating.

As before, I was asked to write questions for the book bowl studying. For this book, I wrote my index cards before writing this review. Page numbers from a copy of the book are indicated. Here are the questions I wrote. I apologize that the African words are not in italics as they should be.

As the story opens, Nhamo is eating these. What are figs? p1
The worst king of all from Grandmother's first story. Who was Mambo? p4
This killed Nhamo's mother. What was a leopard? p6 & throughout
The story takes place on this continent. What is Africa? Map
Social hierarchy required them to always eat first. Who are the men? p11
Nhamo saw this by the stream. What is a shadow/spirit leopard? p14
Nhamo's good-natured and pretty cousin. Who is Masvita? p3
The honorific name of Nhamo's grandmother. What is Ambuya? p9
Aunt Chipo and Aunt Shuvai were who. Who were Nhamo's aunts, her mother's sisters. p12
This disease struck the village and decimated the population of Mozambique. What is cholera? p28
Tradition required a girl who has her first menstruation to visit her to learn the secrets of womanhood. Who is the girl's aunt or Vatete? p18
The name of the witchfinder. Who is a muvuki? p33
The entire family traveled here to see the muvuki. What is the trading post? -p46
Nhamo and Ambruya listen to this at the trader's at the trading post. What is guitar music? p49
Name of Nhamo's mother. What is Runako? p51
Nhamo's father ran away after this. What is he killed a man? p53
The "ghost" required this payment. What is Nhamo marrying Gorem's brother, Gore? p 62
Grandmother stayed here under Nhamo's care while she was sick. What is the Portugese trader's porch? p67
Nhamo was to take Crocodile Guts' boat and row up the stream to Zimbabwe. What was Grandmother's plan? p78
These trapped Nhamo on shore the first time. What are hippos? p92
Nhamo ate these and named her first camp after them. What are guinea fowl? p102
Nhamo's island home was on this lake. What is Lake Cabora Bassa? p113 and others
Nhamo threw these to the njuzu for finding the island. What are Aunt Shuvai's bracelet beads? p123
Nhamo began her journey as a girl and ended her journey as this. What is a woman? p143
Nhamo considered the baboon with the twisted foot was she. Who is Tasviona? p150
Termites won't touch a boat made out of this. What is mukwa wood? p153 & others
Nhamo did this to pass time throughout her story. What was tell stories? Throughout
Nhamo kept the "picture" of her mother here throughout her travels. What is sealed in a jar with a tight fitting lid? p161
Nhamo did this so she could make a garden far from animals. What is lured the crippled baboon off the small island? p166
Fat Cheeks and Rumpy were members of this. What is the baboon troop that kept Nhamo company? p169
Nhamo was stung by this. What is a scorpion? p174
The scorpion sting caused these. What are hallucinations? Chap25
Nhamo first thought the major predator on the baboon island was this. What is a caracal? p197
The kudu was left by this unseen predator. What is a leopard? p201
Nhamo used these to quickly hollow out the mukwa log. What are hot coals? p 190
Nhamo suffered form this psychological problem after a long time on the baboon island. What is depression from loneliness? Chap28-30 (inferred)
Rumpy ruined these. What are Nhamo's food stores and platforms? p 206-7
These "visitors" saved Nhamo from dehydration. What are the njuzu girls? p210-11
Buds on the trees indicated this. What is the rainy season is on its way? p211
These were in the dried marsh at the Zimbabwe border. What are land mines? p222
Nhamo called this woman "Mother" in Efifi. Who is Dr. Masuku? p234
The main purpose of Efifi. What is science? p235
Nhamo killed one when possessed by Long Teats, and almost killed another. What is a black dog? p254
The Jongwe family lived in this town. What is Mtoroshanga? p269
Nhamo found out her father, Proud Jongwe, was dead, making her this. What is an orphan? p272 implied
Nhamo's great-grandfather was this. What is a nganga? p272
Nhamo's parents were married here. What is the Catholic Church? p282
Gorem's spirit's true revenge. What is the death of Nhamo's parents. p284
The year Nhamo's journey takes place. What is 1981? p299
Terms and Definitions from Glossary -- I didn't write too many of these out, just a few I thought were key to the story.
Nhamo's fictional story takes place after these real events. What are revolutionary/civil wars in Mozambique and Zimbabwe? p299
Nhamo's name means this. What is disaster? Title
A long history of mutual hostility exists between these two African tribes. What are the Shona and the Matabele? p300
The British and the Portugese. Who are Europeans who had much intervention in the governments in Africa? p300
South Africans whose language is based on Dutch. Who are the Afrikaners?
Mwari. What is the name of the supreme being of the Shona? p302
Ngozi. What is an angry spirit who requires a wrong righted? p304
Totem. What is the symbol of a family or clan? p306
Njuzu. What are water spirits?
Traditional healers. Who are nganga?
A sect of African Christians. Who are the Vapostori? p 305

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

1981, Mozambique & Zimbabwe

front: character list, maps
end: glossary, 'History & Peoples of Zimbabwe and Mozambique,' 'Belief System of the Shona,' bibliography

It's not often that a novel, especially one for kids, includes so much support material, all of which I appreciated. Here, Nancy Farmer gives the reader a glimpse of life in a culture that I suspect is rapidly vanishing. Trapped in elaborate beliefs, Nhamu leaves her home village and sets off to find her father and his relatives. The bulk of the story is about survival, and Nhamu proves to be a capable and inventive child. Having lived her entire life in a family group, she is unspoiled by the trappings of modern day living and very attuned to her surroundings. She is aware of the dangers and recognizes edible plants and animals ... even so, staying safe and adequately nourished is a challenge.

I think this is a wonderful intro to a world which is totally unknown by the vast majority of American children, but I'd like to read reviews by people native to the area.

My minor criticism: The middle chapters went on longer than necessary, with the 'action' centering around the search for food.