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AlgonquinYouthServices
Apr 15, 2013
This book shines a light on a little known civil war in Myanmar. It follows the lives of two boy soldiers from very different backgrounds. Fifteen-year-old Chiko is from a family of intellectuals. His doctor father has been imprisoned by the government. Chiko goes in search of a teaching job when he is pressed into military service in the Burmese Army against his will. He is unprepared for the harsh conditions the boys are forced to endure. Chiko and his fellow boy soldiers are trained to be guerilla fighters against the Karenni rebels. Tu Reh, a teen himself, is a member of the ethnic minority Karenni fighting the Burmese Army. Tu Reh watched the government soldiers burn his village and he is full of anger. He is on his first military mission for the resistance. When he is sent on a suicide mission, Chiko is severely wounded and left for dead. Tu Reh finds Chiko, and then has some difficult decisions to make. Should he kill Chiko, as the elder men in his party order? Or, should he take him prisoner and find him help? This is a story of war, friendship, and transcending differences. ~Alexa Newman, Youth Services Librarian