A heartbreaking story that needs to be told. 😢 This is a heavy story; it is written in short chapters told from the POV of one of the girls that is kidnapped.

An unmissable book about the Book Haram murders, kidnapping and overall invasion of the north of Nigeria and how little was made for so long to rescue the hundreds, thousands of girls and little boys kidnapped.
After hundreds of testimonials from family members and rescued victims this book was written, and thankfully it is done in a way where the narrator is what could be one of those many girls. She’s an intelligent promising girl, shy, in love, full of dreams, and naive, and in her own childish way (which we see is the product of the way she’s raised as many wore in that part of the country) she will relate her usual days until the kidnapping, and after. Her words and the short type of chapter made this, tremendously nightmarish ordeal, this part of current history and its effects on young girls, a little lighter, which made for an easier way to digest it all, even though it took some of the drama from the story. But knowing it’s so real maybe it’s better this way.

"But no matter how much the tortoise may wish to fight, he has no fingers."

Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree is a fictionalized story of the kidnapping of a group of Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram, an extremist Islamic terrorist group on a mission to take over the northern portion of the country.

Not an easy book to read when you're on a mission to restore your faith in humanity….but, a necessary read to gain perspective on the tragic plight of our fellow humans living in Nigeria. Lots of sensitive topics, including kidnapping, slavery, sexual assault, Stockholm syndrome, and suicide bombing to name a few. Despite the horrific topics, I couldn't put the book down and am really happy I read it.

I appreciate that the author separated the actions of the "Muslim" terrorists from true Muslims, calling them out for what they are — psychopathic criminals using religion to justify their actions.

This book is good for both young and old adults. It's a very fast read with most of the chapters ranging from a couple sentences to a single page. It's unusual for me to finish a book in two days! I do think the fast pace of the book diminished my connection to the story a bit...although it was emotional, it was all over too fast.