Selavi--Youme

The true story of Selavi ("that is life"), a small boy who finds himself homeless on the streets of Haiti. A man by the name of TiFre helps him. He brings him to his home, a banyan tree near a market square. There he finds other street children who share their food and a place to sleep. They all tell their stories of their lives and what they have seen, and find comfort in one another. Most mornings, they rose early and tried to find work doing any odd job and asking people for money and food. One day Selavi comes home to the tree to find many angry men there who claim to have ran all his friends off. After running from the men, Selavi found himself in a church, where a couple offered to keep him as their son. He was worried about his friends, and the churchgoers got together and decided to build a house where street children who looked out for one another could live. Someone set fire to this new house, leaving the children homeless, yet again.  Together they proclaim a message of hope through murals and radio programs. Now in paper, this beautifully illustrated story is supplemented with photographs of Haitian children working and playing together, plus an essay by Edwidge Danticat. Included in the 2005 ALA Notable Childrens Book List and the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List.

This book would be a great book to demonstrate hope as a characteristic of a main character. The children in this story are a very good example of not giving up on something they want, no matter what happens to them. Many students in classrooms these days could benefit from reading a story like this one.


Youme. Selavi, That Is Life: a Haitian Story of Hope. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos, 2004. Print. ISBN: 0-938317-84-9.

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