The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

 Kofi lives in a village in Africa.  He and his friends go to a school run by a man from his village who had attended a mission school, and Kofi is better than many of his friends in reading and speaking English. He loves to swim, and he feels at home in the unchanging customs of his people. (spoiler alert) Then one day his brother does something that causes a rift between his village and a nearby village. Kofi and his brother as stolen and forced onto a heartbreaking path neither ever wanted or expected. 

This is the first in a series of books talking about Kofi's family's journey to America. As Alexander's other books, it is written in beautiful and often poignant free verse poetry. The portrayal of Kofi's life in the small village is both idyllic and harsh. Alexander does not shy away from the brutality of the slave trade, but manages to show that it wasn't only the white slave traders who were at fault. There are some really tough scenes, and parents should be wary in offering this to a sensitive child. Reading it reminded me of The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, which won the Newbery Metal in 1974.  It may play a similar role in this generation as that book played for my generation, that is, a first introduction for children to the horrors of slavery. (432 p, 2024)