![]() Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook. This article was originally published in the June 2014 issue of BookPage. Though Brierley’s prose lacks polish, his story is undeniably moving and will appeal to any reader captivated by the pursuit of a dream that won’t die. I now have two families, not two identities.” ![]() Instead, he writes that he “is not conflicted about who I am or where to call home. He reunites with his family in India, yet never abandons his adoptive family in Australia. In a development that made headlines around the world in 2012, Saroo is eventually able to locate his village, principally by poring over satellite images on Google Earth. Yet, several questions haunt him: Is his mother still alive in India? What about Guddu? How can he find his way back to his village, since he can’t remember the name of the place or where it’s located? He thrives as Saroo Brierley, excelling in sports and academics. It’s not long before a family adopts Saroo, and on September 25, 1987, he flies to Australia to meet the Brierleys and begin his new life in a faraway land. ![]() Turned over to the police by a kind teenage boy, he lands in an orphanage, where, for the first time in months, he has food and a clean bed. Saroo eventually lands in Calcutta, where he joins the teeming masses of children scavenging for food, running from bullies and searching for a safe place to sleep through one more night. His experience involved numerous forms of adversity from his childhood through his adulthood, however, through perseverance, Saroo was able to overcome them. That night, young Saroo becomes separated from his brother and begins several days of searching, begging and riding the rails in an attempt to find his brother or get back home. A Long Way Home tells the story of a child, Saroo Brierley and his incredible journey of becoming lost and finding his way back home after many years. When Guddu announces that he’s leaving, Saroo declares that he’s going off into the night with his older brother.Īnd so begins Saroo Brierley’s great misadventure and his 25-year search for home, which he recounts dramatically in A Long Way Home. ![]() One night in 1986, Guddu comes back to his family’s poor village in India for about an hour, and 5-year-old Saroo can’t contain his excitement. Little Lion: A long way home not only brings this story to life for a younger set of readers and makes the genre of memoirs and true stories a little more accessible to this age range.Young Saroo loves his older brothers, especially Guddu, who at 14 is less and less at home. This is a story of hope and perseverance made accessible to a younger audience through picture book form. The sense of place is evoked realistically, as are the emotions of the characters. Whatley’s illustrations, ranging from small black and white vignettes to large colour illustrations, portray Saroo’s journey and life in a realistic and heartfelt way. While growing up in a loving household Saroo never forgets his family and after many painstaking hours using Google Earth, he eventually locates his hometown. He then travels to Calcutta, as it was known then, by train after falling asleep in an empty carriage, waiting for his big brother.Īfter sleeping on the streets, he is rescued and taken to an orphanage, where he is adopted by a couple in Tasmania, Australia. Beginning in India when Saroo was a little boy, we meet his family and learn what his life was like, harsh and poverty stricken, but happy. With a long written text, Saroo’s story is illustrated with Whatley’s exquisite illustrations. The well-known story of Saroo Brierley’s long search for his family and his home town is now available in picture book form for young readers.
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