The Road From Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival and Hope

Kherdian tells the story of his Armenian mother who was a child in Turkey during the Armenian genocide years. Although most of her family died during this time, she survived and ultimately came to the USA as a mail order bride for an Armenian immigrant. I am impressed that the author can tell the Armenian story from a child's perspective, and appropriate for a young audience. That is, although the tragedy is explained enough to convey its seriousness, Kherdian doesn't give more information than is necessary for a young audience. The majority of the story is about Veron's journey, not the atrocities that she sees. There are a number of poignant scenes, and a few isolated comments about rape without explanation, but this is a book I would not hesitate to give to junior high or high school students. Kherdian also manages to convey the political tension during WWI in his introduction and throughout the story. Young students may find themselves getting lost with difficult names, and keeping characters straight, but this is a good book and a good story and worth reading.

Based on his grandmother’s life. Young Veron is growing up in Turkey when in 1915, the country decides to persecute all Armenians. They are forcibly evicted from their homes and lose lives & property despite the fact that their sons are currently fighting the First World War for Turkey. They are even forced to live in wealthy Turkish areas that are targets for the Allies and in one such instance V’s leg is nearly blown off- meaning she spends many months in hospital where she learns to speak some different languages.p.154 -159 “speak”. After the bombing her aunt tells her she hates her.