Chicken Hero

Chicken Hero: Fascinating Stories Based on Life Experiences, Uyi Osifo, Amazon Digital Services, 2018

This is a group of very short stories about growing up in present-day Nigeria, and eventually moving to America.

As a young child, after an afternoon of playing soccer with his brothers and cousins, the author drank from a bottle of clear liquid, thinking that it was water. It was actually gin. In the beginning, he went to church mostly because his friends also attended. In Nigeria, begging on the street is normal. When he moved to America, he wondered where the beggars were hiding.

Poisonous snakes are a fact of life in Nigeria. Every village seems to have one or two snake whisperers, people who are not afraid of them. Nomads bring cattle from the north of the country. A cow was so focused on grazing that it didn't notice that the rest of the herd was gone. The cow then got mad and started chasing anything that moved. The author had malaria several times as a child. The usual treatment is a drug called chloroquine. Serious itching is a common side effect.

The author was successful in the annual lottery to get an American Green Card. This was around the time of 9/11. He eventually moved in with his sister and her husband, who were living near Chicago. There is a difference between seeing snow on TV, and seeing it in person. Driving home from work one night, he was not sure if he missed his highway exit. He kept driving, and thought it would be a good idea to pull over and call 911 for directions when he passed a sign that said Welcome to Iowa.

This is an interesting book. The stories are very short, and the whole book is a very fast read. This will keep the reader interested.