Author Alain Serge Dzota was born into a poor family in Cameroon and discovered the joy of reading when he started elementary school. Learning to read opened up a world of stories to him and empowered him to eventually become a writer. His cultural perspective and experience of childhood poverty and limited options provide depth and insight into his narrative about Adi, a 13-year-old girl he met.
Adi loves her village and the people with whom she lives. When she can finally attend the only school in the village, she is thrilled. She recalls, “Before the school was given to our village, words were invisible to us. We could hear them, but we couldn’t see or touch them. I even thought that a strong wind might steal them as soon as they left our mouths.”
Adi’s joy, enthusiasm for life, and future are threatened when her uncle decides that at 13 years of age, Adi is a woman. But Adi protests silently, “I’m still a little girl!” Adi’s sisters and many of the village girls have been married off to older men. Uncle Amadou insists that they are happy and now it’s Adi’s turn. Adi knows that Uncle Amadou is lying. Adi has seen that her sisters “look like young corn shoots scorched by the sun.”
To Adi’s parents’ credit, they defy Uncle Amadou’s orders and bring Adi to a boarding school for girls threatened by the prospect of forced marriages. The school was established by Mama Ly, the same woman who had donated funds for establishing the school in Adi’s village. In her new home, which Adi’s parents often visit, the teen is given the opportunity to grow into womanhood without being damaged physically and emotionally by cultural expectations about child marriage.
In an author note, Alain Serge Dzota writes, “I met the real Adi in Bangoulap, when Mama Ly introduced me to this shy young girl. I immediately wanted to write her very difficult story so the world could read it. I wanted her pain and her voice to be heard, because she had dared to say no to the established social practice of forced and early marriage, which is so unjust. I told Adi’s story so that it wouldn’t happen again. … But fighting this reality must be a daily struggle. … I believe that schooling is the ideal weapon for creating a society that is a little fairer for young girls.”
In Adi’s story, middle school readers will be introduced to the evil of forced child marriage and see in Adi a courageous girl who, with the help of justice-seeking adults, was able to have a better future than many of her peers experienced.
(Eerdmans Books for Young Readers)