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2017 Nominee

Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War

Written by Jessica Dee Humphreys and Michel Chikwanine.
Published in 2015 by Kids Can Press.

Michel is like many other five-year-olds: he has a loving family and spends his days going to school and playing soccer. But in 1993, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Michel and his family live, is a country in tumult. One afternoon Michel and his friends are kidnapped by rebel militants and forced to become child soldiers.

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17 thoughts on “Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War

  1. Westglen

    I gave it 5 stars because I loved the charterers and the disruption my favorite part is that it’s his life i would recommend this book to grade 5 and up just because it’s really upsetting M.S

  2. Hillhurst School

    Review on Child Soldier

    It explains what kids went through very well from a real experience. It explained the details and shows the horror of it. It shows what it was like living in Congo and how things went so bad. When the author had to kill his friend it managed to hush things down so it was not so much horror. It explained how close his dad was to him and how he was a good person and tried to stop the rebellion. These rebel soldiers who were kidnapping kids. When they poison the guys dad it shows the us how evil those people were. The story is very predictable and you know what will happen and I like that. However, in real life it would be unpredictable and only a skilled writer could write that. This is like military soldiers come but suddenly harsh cruel and cold hearted people come in and use children for war. That is outrageous!!! His father was very loving and it made me sad that he was poisoned. It is completely real which is what really scares me. I’m shocked that the attackers would have the heart to go to a school and burn it down for the sake of their own rebellion. She definitely achieved the purpose by telling people to not start a conflict like this and if someone does stand up against it. I think the author could use a broader vocabulary so there would be more interesting words The plot was well answered summing up how bad those things are. It was well designed to tell a story like this. Overall I liked this book and recommend it.

  3. Hillhurst School

    Review on Child Soldier

    It explains what kids went through very well from a real experience. It explained the details and shows the horror of it. It shows what it was like living in Congo and how things went so bad. When the author had to kill his friend it managed to hush things down so it was not so much horror. It explained how close his dad was to him and how he was a good person and tried to stop the rebellion. These rebel soldiers who were kidnapping kids. When they poison the guys dad it shows the us how evil those people were. The story is very predictable and you know what will happen and I like that. However, in real life it would be unpredictable and only a skilled writer could write that. This is like military soldiers come but suddenly harsh cruel and cold hearted people come in and use children for war. That is outrageous!!! His father was very loving and it made me sad that he was poisoned. It is completely real which is what really scares me. I’m shocked that the attackers would have the heart to go to a school and burn it down for the sake of their own rebellion. She definitely achieved the purpose by telling people to not start a conflict like this and if someone does stand up against it. I think the author could use a broader vocabulary so there would be more interesting words The plot was well answered summing up how bad those things are. It was well designed to tell a story like this.

  4. Grande prairie public library

    I thought this book was good but the fact that his father died was sad and when he shot his friend\.

  5. Grande Prairie Public Library

    It was one of the books on the sad side of the books that I have read, but it delivers a good message about the war.

  6. Grande prairie public library

    It is very strange how people in their own country just trick others into giving them money for no reason at all. Thought I think it is real, after using kids as test subjects on bombs or bullets. And the author’s dad is making the army people look bad, so they throw him in prison. Fortunately, they escape the country with the death of his dad. And when he arrives in Canada, it seems like he hears lots of people complaining, so he makes some speechs and now he writes a book.

  7. General Stewart School

    This is the second best book that I’ve read. Its not even close to as good as The Nest! I think that this book is pretty good but its gory it has blood and guts. If you are afraid of those things do not read this. 🙂

  8. Springbank Middle School

    This story made me sad. It is hard to think about this really happening to children in other countries.

  9. Westglen school

    Child solider When boys and girls are used in war.
    In the book they talk about war and children and how people would use them to help them live and other soldiers wouldn’t hurt a child some would it’s just sad.The problem was that these kids were being treated like dirt and they were used when raiding a village when there were soldiers and they would sometimes die.The genre is right now those poor kids.I love the art and the writing so i would also rate this one a 5 star.I recommend it to grade 5 and up unless they like blood.

  10. Westglen School

    In Child Soldier Michael a young 5 year old boy growing up in Beni, learn about Michel’s story and how he and his friend Kevin were kidnapped by rebel militants.

    Child Soldier fits into the war and nonfiction genre. I liked that the author wrote the book as a graphic novel because most graphic novels are fiction. Child Soldier is a great book because I really like war stories and graphic novels, that’s why I would give this book 5 stars.

    I would recommend this book to anybody that likes graphic novels or War Stories, it is written really well for a nonfiction book and is about a touching topic._.

  11. Westglen School

    It was kind of sad but some countries are like that, and l liked the details I recommend it to people who like sad stories about the war in africa and places like that, and I would give this book 4 stars and the book was good

  12. Westglen School

    I would give this book a 5 star rating because I like to read about this topic and it has a lot of action and i like reading about action. I would recommend this book for people who like to read about war and the soldiers.

  13. Westglen School

    The book was really good because the story was like the war so it really good. The book teaches you to obey your parents and follow their rules. I didn’t think that it was bad nothing was bad about the book. I just wish that the book was little long. I would recommend this book to people that fought in the war.

  14. Westglen School

    I would give this book 4 stars because the book is short and it is kind of confusing. I would recommend this book to people who like short books, books with pictures, and books with no chapters.

  15. Westglen School

    I would have given this book a 2 1/2 star rating because it was a good book but a little sad for me! It was so sad!!! By the end of the book I was crying a little it was really sad! I can´t believe that it was a real story! That just makes it a little harder because I know it´s not just another book! I know that it was real! Another thing I didn´t like was that there was a lot of blood and death! I don´t like books or movies like that! I get scared really easily so that’s why it was not a good book for me! I would only recommend this book to someone who likes to read about war or anything else like blood or death which I hate to read about!

  16. St. Jerome

    It’s super sad and really deep. I felt so sad about his best friend and that he was taken from his family and was changed forever


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