They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky - by Alephonsion Deng & Benson Deng & Benjamin Ajak (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A "moving, beautifully written account" (Los Angeles Times) of three Sudanese boys who were driven from their homes by civil war and began an epic odyssey of survival, ultimately finding their way to a new life in America

Between 1987 and 1989, Alepho, Benjamin, and Benson, like tens of thousands of other young boys known as the Lost Boys, took flight from the massacres of Sudan's civil war. They set out in search of refuge with little more than the clothes on their backs and walked nearly one thousand miles, sustained only by the sheer will to live.

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky is a deeply affecting account of that unimaginable journey. With the purity of their child's-eye vision, the three boys recall how they endured hunger, malaria, life-threatening predators, and a war that threatened to overwhelm them. Now updated with a new afterword, They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky is a captivating, timeless portrait of a childhood hurled into wartime and an inspiring story of survival.

Review Quotes

"[The authors'] accounts, written first in lesson books and then on computer have been skillfully put together in a narrative, each boy carrying both history and that of their joint flight and reunion forward. The result is both fascinating and immediate, not least because of the guilelessness of the language and the particularly African use of metaphor and imagery. They Poured Fire conjures up a world of marabou storks, acacia trees, termite mounds taller than men, scorpions and snakes that move in the dark, a world governed by traditions, rituals, seasons, weather, and obligations."

--New York Review of Books

"[They Poured Fire] is an amazing account of boys who managed to survive a terrifying ordeal. There's a kind of haunting beauty to their story. After reading this book, readers may feel like they've been on an adventure or in hell, depending on your point of view. Whatever the case, this book is an eye-opener." --Rocky Mountain News

"[The book] represent[s] genuine, heartfelt examples of what war does to young people and how they may adjust to life outside the country of their birth, especially the social and intellectual problems they experience." --Deseret Morning News

"A moving, beautifully written account, by turns raw and tender." --Los Angeles Times

"In a harrowing account of the war, three young refugees in California remember how they were driven from their homes in Southern Sudan in the ethnic and religious conflicts that have left two million dead. They tell their stories quietly with the help of their mentor, coauthor Judy Bernstein, in clear, interwoven, narratives that put a personal face on statistics." --Booklist

"Lovely and unusual. Vital stories that can help readers understand events in Sudan on a human level. But They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky is no mere historical document; it is a wise and sophisticated examination of the arbitrary cruelties and joys of being alive." --Star Tribune

"Tender and lyrical...one of the most riveting stories ever told of African childhoods and a stirring tale of courage. Anyone interested in Africa, its children or the human will to survive should read this book. This beautifully told volume will remain on my desk for years to come." --Washington Post

"Their serious tone, broken by the occasional wry smile, memorializes their parents, the land and animals that wove the tapestry of their early childhoods. One reviewer called the book 'deceptively understated.' But the soft plainness of the young writers' voices, combined with their moral insight, throws the surreal danger and strife into sharp relief." --San Diego Union-Tribune

"Their words speak for those who no longer have a voice. Their story will take the reader on a trip not soon forgotten of spirits unwilling to be broken." --San Antonio Express-News

"Well written, often poetic essays... This collection is moving in its descriptions of unbelievable courage." --Publishers Weekly

Los Angeles Times Bestseller

Washington Post Top 100 Books of the Year Selection

Christopher Award Winner for Adult Books

Peacemaker Award Winner

"[The] book is at once an important addition to the contemporary dialog on world affairs and a surprisingly lyrical account of coming of age under adverse conditions. These folkloric memories replete with lions and circumcision rituals describe a world centuries removed from the high-tech industrialization of Western society. But they years of war also have bestowed wisdom, and simple observations of childhood are seen now through different eyes." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune

About the Author

Alephonsion and Benson Deng and their cousin Benjamin Ajak left the Sudan in 1987 and were relocated in 2001 from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya to the United States as part of an international refugee relief program.