2008’s ‘One Book’ is tale of one of ‘Lost Boys’

As news of another massacre in Darfur reached the West today - 30 villagers reportedly slaughtered at the hands of government troops and allied militias - Philadelphia officials announced that Sudan and Darfur would be at the center of the 2008 "One Book, One Philadelphia" program.

This year's selection, the sixth in the annual citywide reading collaboration, is the acclaimed What Is the What, Dave Eggers' novelized account of the life of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Sudanese "Lost Boys."

At a morning announcement held at the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, on Logan Square, Mayor Street hailed the selection, as much for its subject matter as for the impact that the "One Book" program has had on the city.

Street called What Is the What powerful and timely and said reading it would draw area residents together.

Eltigani Abu Algasim, a Sudanese native who lives in Philadelphia and works with the Darfur Alert Coalition, sat in the audience, listening. Following the announcement, he strongly praised the novel, which is a factual account woven together with fictional devices.

"This book tells the story of one of the Lost Boys, and that story is a story for all boys affected by war in the Sudan," said Abu Algasim, who said he had worked with these children from the seemingly endless Sudanese conflict. "These boys suffered a lot. They lost their parents. They lost their families. They lived all their lives in the jungles, attacked by animals, attacked by rebels. They suffered."

Neither Deng, who now attends Allegheny University in Western Pennsylvania, nor Eggers, who lives and works in San Francisco, participated in the announcement here. They did, however, make a video, which was shown at the event.

Sitting side-by-side on a sofa, both Eggers and Deng said they were honored by the selection and looked forward to being in Philadelphia on Jan. 8, when the program of readings and book discussions officially begins.

Such a broad reading program, Eggers said, "is really why we undertook the project in the first place, so that [Valentino's story] could reach a wide audience, [especially] those who might not know much about the civil war in Sudan."

Deng's story, as it unfolds in the novel, is a testament to cruelty, utter chaos, and the human ability to survive. At the age of 7, he managed to escape capture and watch government militiamen destroy his Dinka village and kill and kidnap innumerable villagers. Along with other bereft children, he trekked through jungles, escaped animal and military attacks, suffered virulent illness, and eventually made his way to an Ethiopian refugee camp, a hoped-for promised land.

But Ethiopia is engulfed in civil strife and flooded with refugees.

In 2001, Deng finally made his way to the United States - only to be attacked in his own apartment in Atlanta.

What Is the What was chosen by a selection committee of about two dozen library, city and school district officials, area librarians, and faculty members from various colleges.

"One Book" selections from past years include The Price of a Child, by Lorene Cary (2003); The Color of Water, by James McBride (2004); The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien (2005); several books by and about Benjamin Franklin, including Franklin: The Essential Founding Father, by James Srodes, in 2006; and Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, by Carlos Eire, 2007.

"The committee apparently feels that there are stories out there that should be known," library president Elliot L. Shelkrot said. Describing his own response to the Eggers-Deng book, Shelkrot said: "I think it's a phenomenal story and it was something I knew very little about. But it made very tangible the issues of that part of the world and what this boy lived through."

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