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Chanda's Secrets
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A girl's struggle amid the African AIDS pandemic, Chanda, is an astonishingly perceptive girl living in the small city of Bonang, a fictional city in Southern Africa. When her youngest sister dies, the first hint of HIV/AIDS emerges, Chanda must confront undercurrents of shame and stigma. Not afraid
… More »A girl's struggle amid the African AIDS pandemic, Chanda, is an astonishingly perceptive girl living in the small city of Bonang, a fictional city in Southern Africa. When her youngest sister dies, the first hint of HIV/AIDS emerges, Chanda must confront undercurrents of shame and stigma. Not afraid to explore the horrific realities of AIDS, Chanda's Secrets also captures the enduring strength of loyalty, friendship and family ties. Above all, it is a story about the corrosive nature of secrets and the healing power of truth.
« LessKabele, Chanda - (Female) Watches the AIDS virus threaten her community
The Horn Book
Sixteen-year-old Chanda, living in a fictional sub-Saharan African country, has family and friends afflicted with AIDS who, because of shame and fear, keep their disease a secret. In this moving story, Chanda must first admit a problem exists and then deal with it through her own resources, making one small break in the cycle of secrecy. Copyright 2003 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Reviews
The subject of AIDS in contemporary Africa receives powerful & #8212;though apolitical & #8212;treatment. When 16-year-old Chanda's baby sister dies, the middle siblings are told that she went "on a trip." Lies and secrets obscure death and suppress every hint of AIDS, which is running rampant through this small city. AIDS lurks everywhere, but so do the shame and social death of acknowledging it. Chanda's Mama is slowly weakening and Chanda's best friend has turned to prostitution, making the spread of HIV ever harder to ignore. Chanda's slow rebellion against all the secrecy comes at a dear price, but the end is not without hope, at least for her and the young siblings who've become her "babies." Stratton pulls his punches by setting this in a fictional country and failing to ever mention any governmental (or corporate/pharmaceutical) culpability. Still, the strong, respectful writing makes this crucial and broadly relevant story unfailingly human. (author's note) (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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