SOCIAL SCIENCE

Biographies are usually a type of nonfiction. In “Brothers in Hope,” author Mary Williams takes a real event and tells a fictional story about it. Garang Deng is a made-up character based on real people. Now it’s your turn to try writing biographical fiction about one of the Lost Boys.

• 1 Research a Real-Life Person Use the Internet to research one of the Lost Boys who came to live in the United States.

  Internet InsideNG.com

  • Find information on other Lost Boys of Sudan.

• Take notes on information that answers the following questions:

  • • What experiences did this person have in Sudan?

  • • What has this person experienced in the United States?

• 2 Organize Information Choose one of the questions above to write about. Organize your notes on this question in sequence.

• 3 Write Your Biographical Fiction Write a short fictional biography about the person you researched. Write it from that person’s point of view. Use your notes to get the events correct, but also use your imagination to write about the person’s thoughts and feelings as he experienced these events. These thoughts and feelings are what make your biography fiction instead of nonfiction.

  Just Ok

  I was seven years old when my village was attacked by soldiers. Everyone was killed, so I had to leave. I met a group of other boys, and we walked to Ethiopia. We were able to seek shelter there.

  Better

  I was only seven years old when my village was attacked by soldiers. It was such a frightening experience to see my village burn. Everyone was killed, and I was terrified. I had to flee. I met a group of boys who were as scared as I was. We decided that the only thing we could do was walk the long distance to Ethiopia.

• 4 Share Your Biographical Fiction Read aloud your biography to the class, and listen to other biographies written by your classmates.