Although it’s already come out, I can’t help but mention Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! I loved it!  As long as one doesn’t nitpick it with the book, it was the best of the entire series.  I wish there was a huge battle at the end but like I said, nitpicking . . . . So good!

Another one that is already out but deserves mention, My Sister’s Keeper. I heard Jodi Picoult talk about her reaction to the movie when she came to Salt Lake City including her feelings about changing the end of the movie from the book.  This book has been in my house forever and I refuse to watch the movie until I read the book.

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. I haven’t read the book but the movie trailer really makes me want to. It just came out yesterday.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I have had this book on my shelf for probably a year and a half with good intentions to read it. Here’s hoping the movie release will push it to the top of the TBR. Releases August 14, 2009.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett. My husband claims he never knew this upcoming movie was a book.  To which I’m incredulous.  Everybody knows about this book.  Right?  If not, shame.   Looks good and releases September 18, 2009.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Who doesn’t love this book?  Like many of us, I grew up with Where the Wild Things Are and have more than one copy in the house.  Maurice Sendak couldn’t be more pleased with the film, so now I’m even more excited.  Husband is also really excited.  He saw seven movies of the film at Comic-Con and he said it was amazing.  Releases October 16, 2009. Movie site.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I had no idea that this was being made into a movie but man, it looks fantastic!  Releases October 16, 2009.

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Road Dahl. I read and reviewed Fantastic Mr. Fox when my book club had a book to movie theme month.  I can’t wait to see this movie!  Comes out November 13, 2009 and features George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and a billion more.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. Need I say more?  Many will be fighting the crowds to see this one on November 20th.  I must admit that I’m a bit disappointed that they still didn’t throw money into the special effects.  We shall see . . .

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. SO looking forward to this movie!!!!  I read the book pre-blog when it was first released.  So good.  Releases December 11, 2009.

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross. The movie trailer isn’t officially released to the public yet but in a phone chat with Donna during our book club, she gave us a secret link and trust me, you want to see this movie. In a recent press release that I received from Donna she needs readers help to make sure that the movie makes it to a movie theater near you.  PLEASE read this statement from Donna and then make your voice heard.  In addition, you have a couple more weeks to purchase the book and get your name entered to be flown to the movie premiere.  Details on that.

Alice in Wonderland!!!! I got all giddy when I watched the trailer for Alice in Wonderland simply because it makes me excited for my husband.  He’s almost crazy with anticipation.  The book holds a special place in my husband’s heart as he has probably collected at least a dozen different versions of the story and he’s done multiple sketches of the characters.  Plus putting Johnny Depp and Tim Burton into the mix and he’s just beside himself.  He’s refused to watch the trailer.   He was at Comi-Con and was super bummed not to get into their panel.  It’s going to be a long wait until March 5, 2010.

So what movie based on a book are you most excited about watching this summer and fall? Did I miss any?  Let me know in the comments and I’ll include the trailer in the comments.

Stephenie Meyer links found on this blog:
Stephenie Meyer on Ellen Show Tomorrow
Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun Put On Hold After Illegal Copy Distribution
Twilight & Harry Potter Both Change Movie Release Dates
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer Book Review
The Host by Stephenie Meyer Book Review
Breaking Dawn Book Cover Released
The New Twilight Movie Trailer
The First Completed Scene of Twlight Released
Thoughts on Attending Stephenie Meyer’s Book Signing
Twilight Movie Trailer

So did Breaking Dawn make you want to watch the movie more or less?

It has been years since I’ve read a Roald Dahl book, one of the most beloved children’s authors of all time, so I was looking forward to reading James and the Giant Peach.  James is sent to live with his two horrible aunts after his parents die a quick but very horrible death (by a rhinoceros no less!).  Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge were “selfish and lazy and cruel” and beat James for no reason at all.  When he wasn’t working, he had no friends, no toys, and wasn’t allowed to leave the house on top of a little hill where he could see the ocean and friends that he longed for.

But that all changes when a magical little old man gives James a bag of magical crystals  that are sure to change his life forever if only he can eat them before his Aunts catch him.   But instead he accidently drops them at the roots of on an old peach tree that never bears fruit.  A peach begins to grow, grow and grow and there is no sign of stopping!

When it grows to the size of the house, the adventure really begins when James discovers that he can crawl inside where he meets a bunch of new friends – who just happen to be oversized insects – including a spider, ladybug, grasshoper, and earthworm.  James and his new friends begin to roll away and are sent on an adventure that takes them into the ocean, through the sky and across the ocean to New York City!

Overall, I enjoyed this book, it was fun full of irreverant humour.  I did get bored in the middle while the seagulls were flying across the ocean and they came into mishaps with the Cloud-Men.  I always loved Lane Smith, the illustrator of the version I have, but I can’t decide about these illustrations.  Some of them are really nice and some of them are a miss.  But regardless, I still love him.

I haven’t seen the movie for James and the Giant Peach but thought it would be worth checking out.  The movie trailer:

I read James and the Giant Peach during Banned Books Week.  This book has been challenged because it’s too magical, advocates communism (what?!?), and because James disobeys his Aunts, despite the fact that they are abusive, as well as a myriad of other reasons.  Relax people!  Do you really think a story of a magical, huge peach is going to harm our kids?  I think the kiddos are smart enough to figure out that this one is just a story!

Do you read Roald Dahl?  I have most of his books, which one should be next?

Roald Dahl website.

Edited to add:  The whole time I was reading this book I kept reminding myself to share my peach pudding recipe, and what would you know, I published it without the recipe!  If you have fresh peaches, this recipe is TO DIE FOR!  I’ve made it three times within the last month as peaches are on right now.  I’m seriously salivating!

Grandma’s Peach Pudding

Mix and boil milk, sugar, and salt together.  Combine separately cornstarch with a little milk and make a thin thickening.  When milk mixture boils pour in thickening.  Pour a little of this into the beaten eggs and mix up.  Add the egg mixture back into main mixture.  Add vanilla and butter.  Bring to a boil while stirring until mixture has reached pudding like consistency. Chill mixture.  Roll out graham crackers.  In a bowl layer graham crackers, pudding, fruit, graham crackers, pudding, fruit, and crackers.  Let stand 2 or 3 hours.  Serve with real whipped cream.  I actually don’t use the stove for this and do everything in the microwave.  With the exception of peeling and cutting peaches, it only takes about 15-20 minutes.

When Brian Steidle retired from the Marines, he started looking for a job in which he could utilize his military skills.  While browsing the classifieds, he came upon an ad from a civilian contracting company overseeing a cease fire in the south.  With naivety, he quickly accepted thinking that he had just landed his dream job.  It wasn’t long after his arrival in Sudan, that Brian transferred to Darfur, working as the American representative in the African Union.  A monitoring force of only 300, the African Union’s mandate prohibited them from taking any action to actually protect civilians or arrest perpetrators.  Their only job was to “observe, inquire, and write reports.”

Can you imagine?  You’re dropped into the middle of a genocide, where the the government of Sudan has killed hundreds of thousands of its own people through aerial attacks on the villages and  the Janjaweed (meaning devil on horseback) raiding them from the ground and the only thing you have is a pen/paper and a camera?

After a village attack, Brian met a small baby named Mihad who had been shot in the back, with gaping entry and exit wounds.  The baby’s aunt (her mother died) tried to have Brian treat her.  Brian couldn’t do anything, “I shook my head and swallowed with half-hearted acceptance that there was nothing I could say or do to change the situation.  I took photos and made notes for my report.  Silently fuming, I moved on, clutching my camera a little too fiercely.”  He did this time after time.

Brian writes about the frustration that comes while witnessing the atrocities of a genocide and not being able to do anything about it.  What’s worse, is that the world wasn’t doing anything about it either.  Darfur is the world’s most crucial humanitarian crisis in the world right now.  But do people even care?  While back home for a few weeks, Brian had this conversation with a bartender.

“Darfur is a region of Sudan.  There’s a genocide going on there – the government has already killed a few hundred thousand of its own citizens.”

“Whoa.  That’s intense.  So, like, isn’t everyone in Africa killing each other, if they’re not starving already?” he asked.

Annoyed, I tried to give him a quick summary of the conflict.

After a few minutes he broke in.  “So, why do we have Americans like you there?  What do we get out of it?”

“What?  Nothing,” I told him.  “You get nothing.”

“So, why should I care?”

I almost knocked my beer over.  “Shouldn’t we care about massive killing?”

“So what?  Africa is a mess.  I don’t really care if they keep killing each other,” he said.

What!?  Wouldn’t you care if people were being killed down your street?  Wouldn’t you care if people were being killed in your city?  Wouldn’t you care if people were being killed in your state?  In your country?  What’s the difference between a 100 miles, a thousand, or three thousand?

There’s a  lot of argument over the word genocide.  I totally agreed with this statement:

Every nation had an obligation to prevent such atrocities.  To me, whether or not to use the word genocide wasn’t what was important.  People were dying in large numbers and we had the means to stop the violence.  Unfortunately, we did not have the will.  They are ‘just Africans,’ someone said to me once.  It made me sick.

I highly recommend reading The Devil Came On Horseback, Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur for those wanting an insiders view.  It was well written and kept me engrossed the whole time.  Before reading this book, I watched The Devil Came on Horseback documentary based upon Brian’s time in Darfur.  If you don’t read this book (which I think you should) than I highly recommend that you watch this documentary!  It’s one of the best that I’ve seen but it’s also one of the most graphic.  It’s not for the faint of heart, but I think that’s the point.  It’s a call to action.  My husband and I cried through this film, especially when you see Brian break down on camera.  He’s very sincere.

The official trailer:

More about Brian:

Why am I doing this?  Surely, my efforts are hardly going to make a ripple in the big picture.  But when I read Brian’s following words, it was a confirmation to me, that I’m doing the right thing.

Sometimes when I am talking to people about Darfur, they ask me how they or the United States will benefit from getting involved in the issue.  I can feel my anger rising.  I tell them:  You get nothing!  You get nothing from helping these people – except to know you did something good, that you did the right thing.  You helped people who couldn’t help themselves.  Every human being should have a chance to grow up without violence, to make independent choices in life, to drink a glass of clean water, to be free of fear – the fear or rape or a bullet in the back during the simple task of collecting firewood for daily meals.

I then point to my photo of Mihad and say:  If these reasons aren’t enough for you, I give you her.  Shouldn’t she have the right to grow up surrounded by peace and love?  What child deserves to be shot at age one?

What nation can allow genocide to continue?

What person can turn their back on the victims of such hatred?

When the genocide in Darfur has ended, what will you say you did to stop it?

Don’t forget to get involved in the Reading & Blogging for Darfur campaign taking place all September.  Visit www.globalgrassroots.org an organization founded by Gretchen Steidle Wallace (Brian’s sister), and www.thedevilcameonhorseback.com for information about the film. 

When the genocide in Darfur has ended, what will you say you did to help stop it?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (can’t wait!):

The Tale of Despereaux (read my book review here):

 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (read my book review here):

And although I’ve previously posted the Twilight trailer before, here it is again  (you know, just in case you missed it, which you probably didn’t):

Any movies coming out soon based upon a favorite book that you are excited for? Mention a title and I’ll add the video into the comments.

This trailer does showa lot, but I think it’s better then the first. My husband and I both agree that Twilight has a “Smallville-ish” feel to it. If you watch Smallville (which we do love) then you know what I’m talking about it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then I don’t even want to get into it.

Are you Stephenie Meyer fans getting more excited?

What do you think?

Why? Because this is going on right now!

And it’s a topic that utterly fascinates me. I’ve come up with a list of book recommendations to help me (and perhaps you) to help shed me of my ignorance. And then I can help to do my part in my little corner of the world. Some are memoirs, some are essays, some are photography books, and I’ve also included some documentaries as well.

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The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari
From the publisher: The young life of Daoud Hari—his friends call him David—has been one of bravery and mesmerizing adventure. He is a living witness to the brutal genocide under way in Darfur.

The Translator is a suspenseful, harrowing, and deeply moving memoir of how one person has made a difference in the world–an on-the-ground account of one of the biggest stories of our time. Using his high school knowledge of languages as his weapon—while others around him were taking up arms—Daoud Hari has helped inform the world about Darfur.

Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman, grew up in a village in the Darfur region of Sudan. In 2003, this traditional life was shattered when helicopter gunships appeared over Darfur’s villages, followed by Sudanese-government-backed militia groups raping and murdering citizens and burning villages.

Though Hari’s village was attacked and destroyed, he was able to escape and lead survivors to safety. When international aid groups and reporters arrived, Hari offered his services as a translator and guide. He risked his life again and again, for the government of Sudan had outlawed journalists in the region, and death was the punishment for those who aided the “foreign spies.” And then, inevitably, his luck ran out and he was captured. . . .

The Translator tells the remarkable story of a man who came face-to-face with genocide– time and again risking his own life to fight injustice and save his people.

For more information visit the book’s website here.
I’ve reviewed this book here.

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Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle

From the publisher: While Don Cheadle was filming Hotel Rwanda, a new crisis had already erupted in Darfur, in nearby Sudan. In September 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell termed the atrocities being committed there “genocide” — and yet two years later things have only gotten worse. 3.5 million Sudanese are going hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced by violence, and 400,000 have died in Darfur to date.

Both shocked and energized by this ongoing tragedy, Cheadle teamed up with leading activist John Prendergast to focus the world’s attention. Not on Our Watch, their empowering book, offers six strategies readers themselves can implement: Raise Awareness, Raise Funds, Write a Letter, Call for Divestment, Start an Organization, and Lobby the Government. Each of these small actions can make a huge difference in the fate of a nation, and a people — not only in Darfur, but in other crisis zones such as Somalia, Congo, and northern Uganda.

For more information visit www.notonourwatchbook.com

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Darfur: Twenty Years of War and Genocide in Sudan by Leora Kahn

Synopsis from Amazon: Winner of the 2007 Lucie Award: Power House Books for Photography Book Publisher of the Year
In June 2007, Power House Books released Darfur: Twenty Years of War and Genocide in Sudan, a collaboration with three humanitarian organizations and five of the world’s top photo agencies. The book, filled with haunting images and testimonials that displayed the desperate and severe reality of the Sudan crisis, sold out its initial run in just a few months, helping to raise much-needed money for this desperate cause. Now, Darfur arrives in paperback.

Even by conservative estimates, the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan is grave. There are 3.5 million people who are hungry, 2.5 million who have been displaced by violence, and 400,000 individuals who have died since the crisis began in 2003. The international community has failed to take steps to protect civilians, or to influence the Sudanese government to intervene.

Darfur: Twenty Years of War and Genocide in Sudan is the product of a close partnership between Amnesty International USA, Proof: Media for Social Justice, and the Holocaust Museum Houston. Featuring the work of eight prominent photographers, the book covers three periods in the Sudan crisis, including images shot in 1988, when an estimated 250,000 Sudanese died of starvation; images from 1992 and 1995 that capture the atrocities of a civil war, when hundreds of thousands fled their homes to other destinations in Sudan or left the country altogether; and images from 2005 and more recently, bringing to light the severity of the humanitarian crisis underway, with the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias committing systematic violence on the people of Darfur.

The book includes website links and additional resources for readers to utilize in seeking an urgent, immediate, and international call to action and to raise awareness of this human suffering. ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE BOOK WILL BENEFIT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA AND GENOCIDE INTERVENTION NETWORK.

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Darfur: A New History of a Long War by Julie Flint & Alex de Waai

From the publisher: Written by two authors with unparalleled first-hand experience of Darfur, this is the definitive guide. Newly updated and hugely expanded, this edition details Darfur’s history in Sudan. It traces the origins, organization and ideology of the infamous Janjawiid and rebel groups, including the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. It also analyses the brutal response of the Sudanese government. The authors investigate the responses by the African Union and the international community, including the halting peace talks and the attempts at peacekeeping. Flint and de Waal provide an authoritative and compelling account of contemporary Africa’s most controversial conflict.

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Darfur Darfur by Leslie Thomas (editor)

From Amazon: DARFUR/DARFUR: LIFE/WAR is a powerful collection of images from some of the world’s most celebrated photojournalists who have documented an ongoing genocide that has claimed more than 300,000 lives and has displaced about 2.5 million people.

Launched in September 2006, Darfur/Darfur, the exhibit to which the book is the companion, consists of over 150 color and black-and-white images by seven international photojournalists and one former U.S. Marine and has gained massive national and international attention. It has been shown in museums such as the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, the Eastman House, Rochester, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., and the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Future venues include the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and FORMA, Milan. In January 2007, Darfur/Darfur became the first exhibit on the crisis to be presented on the African continent.

Visit www.darfurdarfur.org for more about the exhibit tour dates and the book.

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Darfur: African Genocide (In the News) by John Xavier

From the publisher: Both timely and enduring, this book explores the current and continuing Darfur conflict and provides the historical context. While explaining the background behind this violent conflict and the various causes that have contributed to it, it explores geography, environmental hardship, religion, national and regional politics and government, and the development of rebel resistance groups. It also describes the international reaction to the violence, and talks about what the future might hold. (For young adults)

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Darfur by Paolo Pellegrin

From the publisher: An unnatural disaster is devastating the Darfur region of Sudan, where civilians are fleeing in terror from government-supported mass killings. Thousands are dead and millions have been forced from their homes. Millions more are at risk. In 2005, Human Rights Watch investigators began giving children paper and crayons to keep them occupied while they gathered testimony from the children’s parents. Without any instruction, the children drew harrowing and heartbreaking accounts of what they had witnessed: brutal attacks by government-sponsored militias known as Janjaweed, indiscriminate aerial bombings by Sudanese government forces, shootings, burning of entire villages and flight to Chad.

Photographer Paolo Pellegrin traveled to Sudan first in 2005, and again in 2007, to expose the consequences of the ongoing human rights crimes fueling this catastrophe.

Now, Human Rights Watch combines these graphic accounts in Darfur: Smallest Witnesses, featuring an introduction by Nicholas Kristof and first-hand accounts and essays by Human Rights Watch investigators.

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Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival by Jen Marlowe and Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro

From the publisher: In November 2004, three independent filmmakers traveled to eastern Chad and crept across the border into Darfur. Improvising as they went, they spoke with dozens of Darfurians, learning about their history, hopes, and fears, and the resilience and tragedy of their everyday lives.

In February of 2003 following years of oppression, the Sudan Liberation Army in Darfur took up arms against the Sudanese government. The response to the rebellion was a brutal campaign by the government and allied militias of mass murder, rape and the wholesale destruction of villages and livelihood. Millions of people were displaced, and hundreds of thousands killed.

This book introduces us to those who remain: the refugees and displaced people, civilians and fighters resisting the Sudanese government, teachers, students, parents, children and community leaders, whose collective testimonies provide the heart of Darfur Diaries. Their stories, interwoven with the filmmakers’ own personal narratives and conveyed with political and historical context, provide a much-needed account to help understand the tragic situation in Darfur.

Visit www.darfurdiaries.org

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Educating Darfur Refugees: A Jesuit’s Efforts in Chad by Patrick Samway

From Amazon: As a result of the genocide in Darfur, tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee Sudan and seek refuge in overcrowded, desolate desert camps along the Chadian border. Educating Darfur Refugees is the unforgettable journal of a Jesuit priest who spent nine months in 2004 and 2005 working in three of those refugee camps. Samway’s diaries, deeply informed by his perspective as a religious scholar but as engrossing as any page-turner, are an unflinching eyewitness account of one of the greatest tragedies of our time.

Charged with the considerable task of setting up schools for refugee children, Samway recounts his experiences with scarce food and water, nonexistent educational resources, and the remarkable people he encounters along the way. The life-changing story that unfolds, an engaged personal narrative capacious enough to embrace both George Bernanos and Walker Percy, is necessary reading for anyone concerned about Sudanese refugees and those who share their plight all over the world.

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War in Darfur and the Search for Peace by Alex De Waal (editor)

From the publisher: Since 2003, the Darfur region of Sudan has been the locus of a hideous war that has aroused the outrageof milions of ordinary people across the world. But despite a high level of media coverage and activist mobilization, Darfur’s society and politics remain poorly understood. War in Darfur and the Search for Peace brings together essays by noted Sudanese scholars and international experts on Darfur, containing much new historical and contemporary research.

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The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur by Brian Steidle

From the publisher: Former United States Marine Brian Steidle served for six months in Darfur as an unarmed military observer for the African Union. There he witnessed first-hand the ongoing genocide, and documented every day of his experience using email, audio journals, notebook after notebook and nearly 1,000 photographs. Gretchen Steidle Wallace, his sister, who wrote this book with Brian, corresponded with him throughout his time in Darfur. Fired upon, taken hostage, a witness to villages destroyed and people killed, frustrated by his mission’s limitations and the international community’s reluctance to intervene, Steidle resigned and has since become an advocate for the world to step in and stop this genocide. The Devil Came on Horseback depicts the tragic impact of an Arab government bent on destroying its black African citizens, the maddening complexity of international inaction in response to blatant genocide, and the awkward, yet heroic transformation of a formerMarine turned humanitarian. It is a gripping and moving memoir that bears witness to atrocities we have too long averted our eyes from, and reveals that the actions of just one committed person have the power to change the world.

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Darfur’s Sorrow: A History of Destruction and Genocide by M W Daly

From the publisher: Darfur is a region set apart, huge, remote and poverty stricken. Its people are today locked in conflict, terrorized by the lawless Arab militia known as janjawid. As M.W. Daly explains, the roots of the crisis lie deep in Darfur’s past. Tracing the story from the origins of the Fur state in the seventeenth century to Darfur’s annexation by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, he shows how years of neglect left the region unprepared for independence. This complex story is told with compassion, insight and a strong sense of place.

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The Sudan Project: Rebuilding with the People of Darfur-A Young Person’s Guide by Melissa Leembruggen

From the publisher: The Sudan Project helps make children aware of the devastating effects of poverty and war in Sudan, as well as the suffering of Darfur’s people. As current as today’s headlines, this significant work seeks to stir the conscience of an awakening America. The book focuses on the plight of the people of Darfur and encourages hope that they can flourish through the help readers can provide. Such organizations as the United Nations and UMCOR are working to provide relief to this forgotten region. For ages 9–12.

Based on the experiences of The Sudan Project mission by Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, OH, The Sudan Project has raised over $1.6 million for Darfur relief since 2004. A portion of the proceeds from this book go to help the people of Sudan through The Sudan Project. For more information, visit The Sudan Project.

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Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir

Available September 2008.

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A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide by Eric Reeves

From the publisher: The main theme of this new book is that the Khartoum regime is committing genocide in Darfur while the international community watches in silence or with mere hand-wringing.

Publication of such an important book, at this critical moment in the Darfur genocide, offers to government officials, academics, humanitarian aid groups, human rights organizations, as well as to the broader public an in-depth critical assessment of the current situation in Darfur. It also provides an unsparing assessment of the international community’s diplomatic efforts, past and present, to respond to Darfur. Such an assessment comes at a defining moment. The world is watching clearly and yet responding weakly. Action is essential now if we are not to see a further extension of the international failures so conspicuous in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Visit www.sudanreeves.org

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Heart of Darfur by Lisa Blaker

From the publisher: Lisa arrives in Sudan full of determination to use her skills as a nurse to do something to ease the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people caught up in the civil war raging through Darfur.

She is working with Medecins Sans Frontieres, the international organization that sends health workers to the most desperate places in the world. The nine months she spends on the mission will be the toughest of her life but will teach her some fundamental truths about what people are capable of, both good and bad, and about herself.

Lisa describes treating children with horrific wounds, babies dying of dehydration, girls giving birth at the age of 13 and old women too traumatized to carry on living. Her relationships with her Sudanese colleagues are treasured and described in fascinating detail. The book is exquisitely written, without sentiment but with a powerful and moving determination to show the suffering of the people of Darfur and to bear witness to their remarkable courage in the face of the most appalling situation.

This is the book to help us all understand the human story behind the newspaper headlines.

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Darfur Now (DVD – 2008)
Making a difference. Now. This acclaimed inspiring documentary follows six people who are striving to end the suffering in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur. The six American activists, an international prosecutor, a Sudanese rebel, a sheikh a leader of the World Food Program and Don Cheadle who traverses the globe with fellow actor George Clooney to pressure world leaders demonstrate the power of one individual to make extraordinary changes. Be an eyewitness to the tragedy and the triumphs the fear and the pride. Meet the refugees determined to return to their beloved homeland. And discover how you too can make a difference.

Official trailer:

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Darfur Diaries: Message From Home (DVD – 2006)

From Amazon: This is a brutally honest look into the current tragedy befalling the Darfur region. A team of three independent filmmakers in Darfur monitored the worsening political and humanitarian crisis in 2004 and recognized that the mainstream media offered marginal and inadequate coverage. They set out with the goal of providing a platform for the people of Darfur to speak for themselves about their experiences their fears and their hopes for the future

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Sand and Sorrow (DVD – 2008)

From Amazon: This 94-minute documentary details the historical events that have given rise to an Arab-dominated governments willingness to kill and displace its own indigenous African people while examining the international communitys ?legacy of failure? to respond to such profound crimes against humanity both now and in the past. Offered exclusive and unparalleled access to the situation on the ground inside Darfur Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Paul Freedman joins a contingent of African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur while a tragic and disturbing chapter in human history unfolds. As we see while the heroic men and women of this undermanned under-funded mission brave harsh conditions and unfettered violence as many as 2.5 million displaced persons have no choice but to settle inside squalid camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad to wait and hope for a resolution that may be years away.

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A Journey to Darfur (DVD – 2007)

A short twenty minute video as actor George Clooney and his father travel to Darfur to shed light on the current genocide.

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The Devil Came On Horseback (DVD 2007)

An up-close honest and uncompromising look at the crisis in Darfur THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK exposes the ongoing tragedy in Sudan as seen through the eyes of one American witness.Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle the film goes on an emotionally charged journey into the heart of Darfur Sudan where in 2004 Steidle became witness to a genocide that to-date has claimed over 400000 lives. As an official military observer Steidle had access to parts of the country that no journalist could penetrate. Unprepared for what he would witness and experience Steidle returned to the U.S. armed with his photographs intent on exposing the images and stories of lives systematically destroyed.A 2007 world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this astonishingly propulsive and dramatic film from award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (The Trials of Darryl Hunt) is a heartfelt account of what this particular American witness saw and just as important what he did afterward

Official trailer:

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ABC News Nightline The Sudan (DVD – 2007)

From Amazon: ABC News correspondent David Wright and his team traveled the length of Darfur, which is the size of Texas in a country that is the largest in Africa. At least 200 people a day are dying in the refugee camps of Darfur, and yet the refugees keep on coming. And while the relief organizations are doing all they can to help them – many parts of Darfur simply cannot be served because the conflict is raging and those areas cannot be safely reached. Nightline examines the crisis that has been identified, by many as nothing short of genocide and explains the political, strategic and logistical obstacles that stand in the way of solving this man-made disaster.

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For more information about what you can do to help those in Darfur, visit www.savedarfur.org

I don’t know about you but I’m committing to read Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival by Jen Marlowe and Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro, Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle and watching Sand and Sorrow. It’s a start. I did not cover books about the Lost Boys, those afflicted by war in the southern region of Sudan. I intend to cover this at a different time.

I’ll be suggesting book recommendations for a different genocide each Monday as part of a 8-10 weeks series. Read part one here for book recommendations about genocide in general.