The Red Pencil

The Red Pencil (2014) is an award-winning novel in verse penned by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Shane W. Evans. It follows the journey of 12-year-old Amira, a Sudanese girl living in South Darfur, as her village is raided by the Janjaweed and her community is forced to flee their home in search of asylum elsewhere. The novel explores conflict and resilience.

Andrea Davis Pinkney is an American author who writes literature for children and young adults. Her body of work comprises picture books, novels, and even nonfiction, and has won a number of awards and honors—including multiple Coretta Scott King Book Awards. Shane W. Evans is an author and illustrator who has received the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for his work. The Red Pencil, which sees a collaboration between Pinkney’s verse and Evans’s illustrations, received several accolades—including being named a New York Times Notable Children’s Book of 2014 and receiving the 2015 Children’s Africana Book Award.

This guide is based on the Little, Brown and Company Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The Red Pencil contains mentions of animal cruelty, graphic violence, and death.

Plot Summary

The Red Pencil opens on Amira’s 12th birthday. Amira is a Sudanese girl living in South Darfur with her parents and younger sister. As she turns 12, she rejoices in being old enough to wear a toob (a sash), and marvels at the beauty of her village. Her parents, Dando and Muma, greet her; Dando gives Amira a twig, with which she draws pictures in the sand. Leila, Amira’s four-year-old sister, wishes it were her birthday so she, too, could wear the toob but she is too young.

Dando retells Amira’s birth story, describing how she arrived as quickly as the wind one morning when her mother was working in the fields. Leila’s birth was similar in that she arrived quickly, but not as easily. She was born barely breathing and with a contorted spine on a moonless night, which is considered bad luck in Amira’s village. However, despite the circumstances surrounding Leila’s birth and physical disability, she is deeply loved by her family. She is a spirited child who, despite her condition, runs and plays soccer with her friend, Gamal, a village boy the same age as her.

Amira’s best friend, Halima, leaves the village for good. She and her family are moving to Nyala, a big city, in search of opportunity. Halima will be attending school in the city, something Amira also longs to do; however, Muma does not believe that girls need an education, as they are destined for marriage and farm work. Amira thinks these views are regressive, but it is difficult to argue with Muma. She overhears Dando talking to Old Anwar, their neighbor and longtime friend, about how she is special. Old Anwar encourages Dando to teach Amira how to read and write, but Dando asserts that it will be impossible to convince Muma.

Dando and Muma tell Amira about the ongoing conflict with the Janjaweed, a Sudanese government-backed armed militia that has been raiding villages in the Darfur region. Amira does not understand the nuances of the situation, especially when Dando and Muma use terms like “persecution” and “genocide,” but she understands that the Janjaweed are dangerous.

A haboob (a dust storm) approaches Amira’s village, and everyone rushes to shelter; Amira, however, refuses Dando’s order to go inside, insisting that she must find her sheep Nali before the storm hits. Luckily, the haboob changes course at the last minute, and Amira and Dando are safe. A few days later, Amira, Leila, and Muma are kneading bread together while the men are out in the fields, and Amira feels another gust of wind. She initially thinks it’s another haboob, but it is the Janjaweed: They raze the village to the ground, setting fire to animals and crops as helicopters dispatch bullets from above. Amira and Leila are safe, having hidden in their hut on Muma’s orders, but Dando dies in the raid along with Leila’s friend Gamal’s parents.

Unsafe, the entire village packs their meager belongings and begins a long walk across the desert, hoping to find safe harbor elsewhere. Old Anwar keeps their group together: He, Amira, Muma, Leila, and Gamal form a new family. They only travel at night, as it is too dangerous to move during the day, and eventually arrive at Kalma, a camp for displaced people. Amira immediately dislikes Kalma, as it is arid, overcrowded, and very different from her home; she cannot believe this is to be her new home. The trauma of the Janjaweed attack and Dando’s death lead Amira to lose her voice.

Kalma is composed of people from many cultures brought together by tragedy. Amira hears people constantly talk about how unsafe it is to leave Kalma, and how the people at the camp will likely live out the rest of their lives there. Despite this, Amira can’t help but wonder about the possibilities outside of Kalma. She encounters a television for the first time in her life at the camp, and sees glimpses of different worlds through it, including a short video about the Gad Primary School on CNN.

A volunteer from Sudan Relief visits Kalma and distributes pencils and paper among the children there. For the first time since her arrival at the camp, Amira begins to feel joy. She begins to draw, revisiting the Janjaweed attack and slowly regaining her voice. Old Anwar teaches Amira how to write using her pencil and paper, which thrills her. She begins to dream of a specific future, of leaving Kalma for Nyala, and attending Gad Primary School like her best friend Halima. She wants to learn how to read and write and eventually teach other children like her.

Muma discovers Amira’s secret lessons with Old Anwar and is furious; but despite her anger, Amira senses Muma’s curiosity about her writing. Amira feels conflicted, as she loves her mother, but knows she will never approve of her education. However, she realizes that if she stays at Kalma, she will stagnate and suffocate. Amira decides to leave Kalma, confiding in no one except Leila. She manages to slip past the guards one night, but she is apprehended by Old Anwar before she gets far. Unsafe as it is for a young girl to journey alone, Old Anwar decides to accompany her. The novel ends with Amira and Old Anwar traveling to Nyala together.