The Red Pencil

When Janjaweed gunfire shreds the still night over Amira’s mud-brick home in Darfur, twelve years of quiet dreams shatter like clay pots, and the girl who once sketched goats in dust must race toward Nyala with nothing but courage, a baby brother, and her fierce wish for school. Along scorched roads she dodges militia trucks, joins columns of stunned villagers, and tastes the bitter grit of Racial Justice denied; yet inside the teeming refugee camp a single red pencil lands in her hand like a burning comet, promising Education Equity and Gender Equality that no border fence can choke. Andrea Davis Pinkney’s verse crackles with desert wind, while Shane W. Evans’s urgent line art splashes hope across canvas tents, inviting readers to debate what bravery costs when classrooms turn to ash. Amira scratches maps, poems, and tomorrow’s math into scrap paper, daring the camp’s elders to believe that art can outshine warfare and that a girl’s story can redraw Sudan’s horizon. Will the red pencil sketch a path back to a real school before the next dry season steals her chance? Tap the blue ➕ to Save to List for later inspiration, or hit the bold arrow to Learn More and connect your classroom, youth group, or congregation to Amira’s fearless journey.