An incredibly moving story of how the young survive tragedy, this is based on the true story from the Rwandan war of 1994. Eight year old Jeanne is orphaned when her parents are killed by the Tutsi. Every thing she knows is lost but, thanks to the kindness of others, most notable Hanna Jansen who writes the story, Jeanne learns to carry on in different ways and in a different life but still with happiness.
Before that fateful April day, Jeanne lived the life of a typical Rwandan girl. She bickered with her little sister, went to school, teased her brother. Then, in one horrifying night, everything changed. Political troubles unleashed a torrent of violence upon the Tutsi ethnic group.
In 2000, Hanna began writing again, and has since published four children's books. She is currently working on her first novel for adults. Her projects deal with themes of prejudice, racism, and exclusion and raise readers' empathy for victims of cruelty. Her book Über tausend Hügel wandere ich mit Dir (Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You), a young adult novel based on the real-life experiences of her adopted daughter Jeanne d'Arc Umubyeyi, won Germany's prestigious Buxtehuder Bulle Literary Award in 2003. Translated into English by Elizabeth D. Crawford, Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You is being published by Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, in 2006.
