A Girl Named Disaster
Nancy Farmer
 Nhamo is an 12-year old Shona girl living in a traditional village located in Mozambique (1981). She was raised with the knowledge and customs of her tribe, but because scandal seemed to follow her and her mother, she was named "Disaster" in the Shona language. After experiencing trouble with a cholera epidemic, a ghost leopard, and a prescribed marriage proposed by a false witch doctor, she flees with her dying grandmother's blessings, some gold nuggets, and her meager survival skills. Nhamo steals a boat under her grandmother's instructions and uses the river as her road to Zimbabwe, where she faces the threat of hippos, crocodiles, and other animals. What should have been a two-day boat trip across the border to her father's family in Zimbabwe spans a year in which Nhamo faces starvation, drowning, and the threat of hungry or aggressive animals. The girl finds her way to a lush, haunted island and lives alongside a troop of baboons. Daily conversations with spirits combat Nhamo's loneliness and provide her with sage and practical advice. She makes mistakes, loses heart, and nearly dies of starvation. Even after she arrives in Zimbabwe where she lives with scientists before meeting her father's family, Nhamo must learn how to live in a modern society (clothing, behavior, literacy), and is urged to let go of the "evil" spirits that "possess" her as prescribed by a priest.