It's easy to see why this won the Printz award, it's an astounding work of young adult fiction!! It's a hard, depressing read but fret not for it is worth all the angst.
The story opens in darkness and then bounces back in forth between modern day Haiti (immediately following the destructive earthquake from a few years ago) and Haiti fighting for its freedom. The narrators are "Shorty", a fifteen year old gangster from one of the most dangerous slums in the world and Toussaint L'Ouverture, the former slave who brought freedom to Haiti.
Shorty is trapped in a collapsed hospital for days surrounded by dead bodies in complete darkness and thinks he is starting to lose his mind when he is able to recall/dream/hallucinate of his life as legendary Toussaint L'Ouverture.
A teenager and black slave seperated by centuries are bound together by Haiti by darkness, adversity, and despair. Together they are able to lift themselves out of the darkness by telling their story. They are completely seperate individuals, yet they are one as well.
This book is seriously fantastical. The prose is amazing and the author does a wonderful job of bringing Haitian hardships to life through slang, song, and storytelling. A definite must read!!!
