The book “Buried Under the Baobab Tree” by Adaobi Tricia is about a Nigerian girl whose town gets taken over by Islamic extremists.
This book is incredibly powerful. It shows people just how much of a privilege education and freedom is.
Ya Ta, the main character, is a teenage girl in a small village. She is very smart and studies in any free time she has. This is minimal because women in Nigeria are supposed to do a majority of the chores. A terrorist group attacks and kidnaps hundreds of girls from her town.
Ya Ta is very brave throughout this story. As a young girl she is put through many trials. She loses her freedom and continues to persevere. She never loses her identity. She stays true to her beliefs throughout the entire book.
The book is based on interviews from actual Nigerian girls. In 2014, 276 girls were kidnapped from a school by a Nigerian militant group called Boko Haram. As of April 2024, 82 of the 276 schoolgirls are still missing.
This book is incredible. The writing is emotional and detailed. It is important for high schoolers to read, so that they know how much of a privilege it is to go to school. Freedom is easy to take for granted when the history of other countries is ignored.
Overall this book was one of the best I have read in a long time. I would give this book five stars out of five. It is a great book for people who enjoy reading about history and learning about different cultures.