Brave Girls Written by Ezekiel Alembi

BRAVE GIRLS

‘Brave Girls’ is a book written by Ezekiel Alembi and published by Longhorn Publishers. It narrates the story of a young girl known as Ayuma who is kidnapped by a group of evil worshippers whose objective is to sacrifice her, before she escapes from their custody. Ayuma is kidnapped by some people on her way home from school and as the drama unfolds she realises that one of the kidnappers is her Sunday school teacher, called Saima. These kidnappers take her to their boss, an old fat man who runs the gang. The man praises the gang for their good work, and especially thanks Saima for his excellent work of spying on Ayuma. Ayuma soon joins other girls in an abandoned dormitory in the middle of a forest. They have all been captured to be offered as sacrifices. Ayuma  makes a friend while there called Melisa. One night Ayuma decides that it is better to die trying to run away from the place than to be offered as a sacrifice. In the middle of the night she manages to creep out into the thick forest where she surprisingly stumbles into Melisa. Together they try to find their way out of the forest, but before long their kidnappers discover both girls are missing and start a night search for them. The girls mange to find a deserted cave where they enter and hide. Saima, who was among those searching for them, sees them inside the cave but tells the other kidnappers that the cave was empty. He moves on with the gang but promises to come back for them when it is safe. For sure he goes back to the cave the next day and guides the girls out of the thick forest until they reach a highway. They all board a matatu which takes them to Kwetu Town, where Ayuma was from. Saima leaves them here and disappears into the crowd. The girls are forced to steal some accessories from a kiosk in the market for the police officers to take them in the police station when Melisa spots one of the kidnappers. The girls narrate their ordeal to the police officer. The story ends with Ayuma’s parents being brought to her and they agree to let Melisa, who is an orphan, to stay with them at their home.

Critiques of the book:

1. We are not told whether the gang was finally captured or not. The police officers only promised to carry out their investigations.
2. We are never told what happened to Saima after they reached Kwetu town. He abandoned the girls there and disappeared.
3. We are not told what happened to the girls who were left behind in the hands of the kidnappers. Were they saved?
4. It is not clear how a young girl like Ayuma was able to escape from a heavily guarded place  like the one where she was held.

What I liked about the book:

1. The book uses simple grammar which makes it very easy to read and understand the content being portrayed.
2. There is a good flow of events which enhances the reader’s capability to read, understand and retain information upto the end of the book.
3. This is a fast-read book that contains a lot of suspense leaving the reader with a desire to know what will happen next thus pushing him to continue reading the book.
4. The supporting role of Saima, among other characters, clearly brings out their relevance in the build-up of the story which makes the book even more exciting to read.
5. The fact that Ayuma had the courage to escape from her kidnappers is a moral itself which teaches us to always be strong and ready to fight any difficulties we may have in life until we overcome it, just like she did.

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