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Child Soldier Stars

Books about Child Soldiers

Fiction

• Johnny Mad Dog
  Author: Dongala, Emmanuel
  Publisher: FSG $ 26 ISBN: 0374179956 Date: 2005
  LJ
  Set amid the chaos of West Africa's civil wars, Dongala's striking new novel tells the story of two teenagers growing up while rival ethnic groups fight for control of their country.
  Updated 4.7.05
• The Children's War
  Author: Charlesworth, Monique
  Publisher: Knopf $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400040094 Date: 2004
  Kirkus PW
  Interweaving the stories of Ilse, a half-Jewish girl, and Nicolai, a Hitler Youth, The Children's War is a gripping, unforgettable story of growing up in a world gone mad.
  Suggested Reading: Historical Fiction Stars
  Updated 8.16.04
• Beasts of No Nation
  Author: Iweala, Uzodinma
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 16.95 ISBN: 006079867x Date: 2005
  Kirkus PW LJ Booklist
  A harrowing, utterly original debut novel about the life of Agu, a child soldier in a war town African country. In a powerful, strikingly original voice, Iweala leads the reader through the random travels, betrayals and violence that mark Agu's new community. - Publisher Marketing.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts | All Stars
  Updated 7.7.05
• Pretty Birds
  Author: Simon, Scott
  Publisher: Random $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400063108 Date: 2005
  Kirkus PW
  This mortal chess game of guile and manipulation plays out against the backdrop of beautiful, war-torn Sarajevo as two high school friends--one Muslim, one Christian--struggle to survive the Serbs' ethnic cleansing.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts | Former Yugoslavia
  Updated 4.19.05

Nonfiction

• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
  Author: Beah, Ishmael
  Publisher: Faber & Faber $ 22 ISBN: 9780374105235 Date: 2007
  PW
  In the more than 50 conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. In a rare and mesmerizing account, Beah tells of his experience as a child fighting a war in Sierra Leone.
  Updated 12.6.06
• Another River, Another Town: A Teenage Tank Gunner Comes of Age in Combat 1945
  Author: Irwin, John P.
  Publisher: Random $ 21.95 ISBN: 0375507752 Date: 2002
  Kirkus
  Reminding many readers of The Red Badge of Courage, this book is the distinctive memoir of a teenage tank gunner in World War II.
  Updated 4.2.02
• Children At War
  Author: Singer, P.W.
  Publisher: Pantheon $ 25 ISBN: 0375423494 Date: 2005
  Booklist
  An internationally recognized expert on 21st-century warfare looks at the use of children as soldiers in more than three-quarters of the world's conflicts, describing how children are indoctrinated and trained as soldiers, and how it can be stopped.
  Updated 11.2.04