Part of the Peace Pen Pals series, this title discusses Sudan’s recent civil war in which more than two million died and four million were forced from their homes. Along with a detailed overview of the causes of the war, the photo-essay includes occasional fictionalized letters between two young pen pals split apart by the conflict. Dinka, driven from her village, is now with her family in southern Sudan. She writes to Sittina, a Muslim in Khartoum, whose family is angry about what is being done to Christians. The correspondence seems contrived, but it does personalize the political strife from the kids’ viewpoints. The frequent type printed on colored paper with images of gray barbed wire may show the situation, but it’s a distracting design element.
