Chanda's Secret
Allan Stratton’s Chanda’s Secrets is the first book in the Chanda series.
Chanda is a sixteen year old girl who lives in a town in sub-Saharan Africa. In the small impoverished town she lives in, rumors run rampant, but there is one rumor that people are scared to spread. AIDS is a disease that creeps up on people unexpectedly and spells certain death in Chanda’s village. Even the mention of the deadly yet prevalent disease is enough to get an entire family shunned from the community. Chanda must bear the secrets of her family and keep it from falling apart or risk being shunned by her entire community. Chanda is an intelligent, determined and hard-working girl. She lives with her mother, sister, brother, and drunken step-father and has already experienced the death of a loved one at her young age. As the oldest in her family, she has to help her mom take care of all her younger siblings. At the same time, she must also work hard in school so she can get a scholarship. As her mother weakens, her family begins to fall apart. Most of the work is pushed onto Chanda and she must do what she can to make ends meet. Over the course of the story, Chanda experiences trial after trial and watches as her world crumbles, but she manages to survive the story and come out stronger than she was before. Chanda’s Secrets is a powerful book. It starts slowly and it takes a while for the plot to build up. Once the plot gets going, the book is impossible to put down. All the characters seem raw and real. Each character is multidimensional and real, yet none of them overshadow the main protagonist. Chanda’s Secret is not a happy story. Chanda life gets harder and harder after each new chapter. It is an emotional read that can make you cry as you realize Chanda’s life, hopes and dreams are falling apart. Even the side characters that Chanda knows experience tragedy, heartbreak, and the death of a loved one. This book also tackles the shame that comes with having the AIDS virus. As it is a deadly disease, the mention of it is considered bad luck and is enough to shun the person from the community. Though this book is short, it is powerful. I give this 193 page book 4 stars. |
ChandaChanda is a sub-Saharan, African girl living in a small and impoverished community. The community suffers from death, heartbreak, and AIDS.
More books in the SeriesComing Soon
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