Girl of Kosovo

by Alice Mead

Overview

A child's perspective on war.
In 1998 the Serb military intensifies its efforts to expel Albanians from Kosovo. Ethnic cleansing forces many families to seek safety in the surrounding hills and mountains. The Kosovo Liberation Army fights back guerrilla style, struggling for an independent Kosovo. Some Albanian villagers support the freedom fighters. Others fear that armed resistance, which they have successfully avoided through long years of Serb repression, will only increase the death toll. And always there is terrible tension between Serbian and Albanian neighbors who once were friends.
Eleven-year-old Zana Dugolli, an Albanian Kosovar, isn't sure what to think. She does know not to speak her language to Serbs. And every day she worries about her mother and father, her brothers, the farm, the apple orchard. Already she has lost her best friend, a Serb. Then Zana's village is shelled, and her worst nightmare is realized. Her father and two brothers are killed in the attack, and her leg is shattered by shrapnel. Alone in a Serb hospital, she remembers her father's words: "Don't let them fill your heart with hate."
Based on a true story, Alice Mead's stark, affecting novel about a place and conflict she knows well will help young readers understand the war in Kosovo.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429937900
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	05/21/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	133
File size:	135 KB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Alice Mead is the author of several novels, including the Junebug books and another story of Kosovo, Adem's Cross, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. She lives in Maine.

Reading Group Guide

1. “Generosity is the first step toward peace” is a Buddhist saying that appears at the beginning of the book. Explain how this saying relates to the novel. How is it good advice for national and world citizens and leaders today?

2. Zana asks, “How was it that foreigners could come take pictures of us when we were dead, but couldn’t come to help us stay alive?” (p. 27) Discuss how Zana’s question displays anger and bitterness toward foreign journalists. Ask the group to debate why journalists feel it necessary to focus on such horrific devastation to human lives.

3. Papa says, “Listen, Zana, don’t let them [the Serbs] fill your heart with hate. Whatever happens. Promise me that. Will you?” (p. 13) Discuss moments in the novel when Zana cannot control her hatred toward the Serbs. How does hatred between the Albanians and the Serbs affect Zana’s friendship with Lena Goran?

4. Zana learns to control her anger at the end of the novel when she is reunited with Lena. Ilir is still angry and along with his uncle, he threatens the Goran family. Discuss how Zena helps the Gorans. How does Zana learn that friendship transcends all negative emotions? What does Dr. Rob teach Zana about friendship and dealing with anger?

5. Zana says, “Calling Albanians terrorists gave them the right to kill us anytime they wanted to.” (p. 16) Define terrorism. How might the Serbs be labeled terrorists? Describe how Zana and her family feel terrorized throughout the novel. How does terror play a role in Lena’s family leaving Kosovo?

6. When a Serbian policeman is shot, Zana says, “All Albanians wouldsuffer for the actions of one. That was how it was.” (p. 15) How does Zana’s comment relate to the treatment of Muslims in the United States after the events of September 11, 2001? Explain the term profiling. Ask students to discuss the injustice of profiling.

For more activities on Images of War, see these titles: For Freedom by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Lord of the Nutcracker by Iain Lawrence, Girl of Kosovo by Alice Mead, Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley with Ron Powers adapted for young people by Michael French, The Gadget by Paul Zindel, and Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian.

Prepared by Pat Scales, Director of Library Services, the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC.

Editorial Reviews

As in her novel Adem's Cross (1996), Mead portrays the horrors of the Balkan conflict, this time through the eyes of a young Albanian girl. There has always been the presence of the Serbian army in Zana's world, but in her 11th year, the real trouble begins. A neighboring farm is destroyed and the family massacred—and that is only the beginning. Shortly thereafter, there is a bombing and Zana's two youngest brothers and father are killed. Zana herself is badly wounded from the shrapnel, especially in her ankle and hip. The tale follows her through several hospitals, alone and terrified. She is finally united with her family, but the tragedy has left her mother with few coping skills. Inadequate medical care, sporadic visits from an English doctor who has befriended her, and little hope of recovery contribute to Zana's despondency. But when the village is destroyed and her neighbors threaten to attack Zana's good friend, who is Serbian, Zana finds the courage to defend her and stand against the vicious crowd. Her father's words "Don't let them fill your heart with hate" come back to her and she realizes that she has friends who are considered enemies. In an afterword, the author indicates that the story is based on a family she met when she visited the refugee camps in Albania and Macedonia; the forward gives a short history of the area and sets the scene. This difficult tale will give readers a sense of the sufferings of war and the emotional struggle needed to survive against a totalitarian state. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews