THE HEAVEN SHOP

Book ID/图书代码： 04804005B07322

English Summary/英文概要： Grade 6-9–When 13-year-old Binti Phiri’s coffin-making father dies, a grandmother she hardly knows says what no one in Malawi likes to admit: the man, like his wife, died of AIDS. Now orphaned, Binti and her siblings are sent to relatives far from home. A Cinderella-like existence with an uncle whose family ostracizes them and steals their money proves so intolerable that her older sister runs away. Binti, too, escapes and makes her way to her grandmother’s village. There she discovers her Gogo surrounded by children, cousins and pretend cousins, all dealing with the effects of the epidemic. A local AIDS activist eventually finds Binti’s brother, in jail, and her sister, working as a prostitute. Reunited, the young people open their own coffin shop. The author’s travel in the area informs her work, but the message, though important, threatens to overwhelm the story. Binti is a well-developed character, but the others and the events of their lives seem to have been introduced in service to plot; they don’t come alive the way the Afghans do in Ellis’s "Breadwinner" trilogy (Groundwood) or the way the AIDS victims and their relatives do in Alan Stratton’s Chanda’s Secret (Annick, 2004). Readers with an interest in faraway places won’t mind, though; they will cheer as Binti, self-centered and self-important when life is good, learns through adversity and through the model of her grandmother to think and behave more generously. Teachers and librarians looking for fiction about sub-Saharan Africa will find this title a useful addition.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： Binti Phiri十三岁时，她刚上初中。以制作棺材为生的父亲死了，在马拉维洲除了她的奶奶，没有人愿意接纳她。她的父母都是死于爱滋病。现在，她成了孤儿，Binti和她的兄弟姐妹们被送往远方的亲戚舅舅家。她象灰姑娘一样生活在舅舅家，舅舅家人排斥她们，偷她们钱并惩罚她们，如此难以忍受，她的姐姐逃跑了，Binti也逃跑了。她们逃向奶奶的小山庄。她们被一些孩子和表兄弟们所包围。那些人对待她们象对待瘟疫一样躲开了。Binti的弟弟最后被当地的激进主义分子发现了，在监狱里，她的姐姐当了妓女。年轻人团结起来打开了她们的死亡的坟墓。作者旅行在这片土地上获悉他的作品，但是，信息是非常重要的，威胁着他的故事。Binti是一个很有发展性格的人物，但是，他们的生活事件似乎被介绍在故事情节中，在Eillis的“养家户口的人”三部曲、爱滋病受害者的遭遇和艾仑的秘密。读者是非常感兴趣的在那个遥远的地方，他们为Binti的自尊，自重而欢呼，生活是美好的，学会克服困难，以奶奶更加宽容的思想和行为为榜样。此书发人深省，感人！！！是一本难得的好书。

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