Pamela C. (pj-s-bookcorner) reviewed on 3/28/2017 + 885 more book reviews

This book is interesting, but hard to read, at the same time. Hard in the fact that we find it difficult to understand the poverty that parts of the world take for granted. The setting is a slum in Uganda. You meet several people and at times it's hard to keep track of the inter-relationship as the chapters go back and forth. These people are living in the worst possible conditions. Children do not even know their birth date because it isn't important to anyone. Phiona follows her brothers to a soccer camp run by a young man trying to further the children's faith and learning. He finds that many are not able to play a physical game so he teaches some of them the game of chess. Phiona becomes an avid student and progresses quickly eventually traveling to the Sudan and Russia to compete. A heartwarming and heartbreaking story of the day-to-day struggles to survive and the promise of better things possible.

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