Conflict
Carter, Anne Laurel. The Shepherd’s Granddaughter. Groundwood Books. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780888999023 Israel/Palestine
Amani knew by the time she was six years old that she wanted to be a shepherd. She loved sheep, the mountain tops, and her grandfather, Seedo, who agreed to teach her how to become a shepherd. Her mama is against the idea because she feels it is too dangerous for such a young child and a girl. It is only because Seedo, the head of the family, that Amani is allowed to go with him. The dangerous mountain trails, the hard headed ram Nasty, and keeping up with wandering sheep are not the things Amani had to worry about most when she decided to follow in her grandfather's footsteps. Once summer is over her parents want her to give up her dream and go to school. Once again it is Seedo who comes up with a compromise. Amani's cousins think that she is crazy and call her names and exclude her from their gatherings. Amani still refuses to give up her dream. As time goes by there are two things that Amani cannot ignore. One is that her grandfather's health starts to decline and the second one is how the settlers of Israel are taking her family's land in Palestine. Amani must learn to survive in a very turbulent time in her life, the life of her family, and her country. She has much to lose and gain. Readers will want to know how Amani is able to deal with issues that are totally out of control and hold onto what is most dear to her. This book reflects conflicts that young people currently face in our world in an informed, compassionate, engaging way.
Dowd, Siobhan. Bog Child. Random House Children's Books. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780385751698 530L Ireland
When Fergus McCann finds a 2000-year-old body of a young girl buried in a bog, his life begins to unravel. As Fergus tries to solve the mystery surrounding the body, he gets word that his jailed brother, Joe, has begun a hunger strike protesting the Troubles in Ireland. His family also begins to crumble as his father and mother argue over whether Joe's decision is noble or a pointless path to slow death. Fergus is directly drawn into the Troubles between Ireland and England when he is blackmailed into becoming a smuggler, he believes, for the IRA. Amidst the conflict, Fergus falls for a girl examining the body in the bog. He also struggles to study for exams so he can keep alive his dream of becoming a doctor and the first McCann to attend college. Set during the early 1980s in Ireland, the novel expertly uses the country and its conflicts as a backdrop for this coming-of-age novel. Dowd realistically depicts a character trapped between Irish Republicans and loyalists, between his mother and father, and ultimately between boyhood and adulthood.
Khan, Rukhsana. Wanting Mor. Groundwood Books . 2009. ISBN-13: 9780888998583 Afghanistan
Jameela and her family live in a poor, war-torn village in Afghanistan. Even with her cleft lip and lack of educational opportunities, Jameela feels relatively secure, sustained by her Muslim faith and the love of her mother, Mor. But when Mor dies, Jameela’s father impulsively decides to start a new life in Kabul. Jameela is appalled as he succumbs to alcohol and drugs, then suddenly remarries, a situation that soon has her a virtual slave to a demanding stepmother. After she’s discovered trying to learn to read, Jameela is abandoned in a busy market, eventually landing in an orphanage run by the same army that killed so many members of her family. Throughout it all, the memory of her mother sustains her, giving Jameela the strength to face her father and stepmother when fate brings them together again. Inspired by a true story, and set in a world far removed from that of Western readers, this powerful novel reveals that the desire for identity and self-understanding is universal.
Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk. Daughter of War. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Limited. 2008. ISBN-13: 9781554550449 Armenian Genocide
Set in Turkey in 1916, this novel plunges the reader into the little known episode of genocide in Turkey during the first World War. Told from the dueling perspectives of Marta and Kevork (two Armenian teenagers, forced into hiding, yet who are engaged to each other and desperate to find one another) this gripping novel tells the story of suffering and the atrocities of war from two very different perspectives. While Kevork is in Syria, attempting to make his way back to Marta, Marta is in Turkey, pregnant and afraid. The quest both of these characters are on attests to the difficult times of war, the pain of genocide, and the true commitment and loyalty they have for each other.
Stratton, Allan. Chanda’s Wars. HarperCollins Publishers. 2009. ISBN-13: 9780060872656 AIDS/Africa
Chanda has had a hard life. After her mother died from AIDS she was left to take care of her two younger siblings, Iris and Soly. When life becomes very difficult for Chanda, she decides to take a trip to the village where her mother grew up to heal old wounds and get help from her other relatives. Unfortunately both plans backfire, and instead of having a much needed break, Chanda is cast out of the family (because she refuses to marry the boy next door to heal old family wounds), and her younger siblings are kidnapped and forced to join Mandiki's rebel army. Chanda then shows even more courage as she enters the Bush to rescue the children. She makes the best of the impossible situation she is thrown into. This book is a fictional story with a fictional war, but it is based on real life events in various parts of Africa. The atrocities of this child-war are described in this book but are not terribly graphic. However, the content of this book is not appropriate for younger children.
Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. Random House Childrens Books. 2004. ISBN-13: 9780641937569 Terrorism
Manhattanite Daisy, 15, moves to London to stay with an aunt and cousins she's never met. Without preamble or fanfare, an unidentified enemy attacks and war ensues. Her aunt is abroad on a peace mission, meaning that Daisy and her three cousins, with whom she forges a remarkable relationship, must survive almost entirely on their own. This is a very relatable contemporary story, told in honest, raw first-person and filled with humor, love, pathos, and carnage. War, as it will, changes these young people irrevocably, not necessarily for the worse. They and readers know that no one will ever be the same. The story of Daisy and her three exceptional cousins, one of whom becomes her first lover, offers a keen perspective on human courage and resilience. An epilogue, set six years after the conclusion, while war still lingers, ends Daisy's story on a bittersweet, hopeful note.
Amani knew by the time she was six years old that she wanted to be a shepherd. She loved sheep, the mountain tops, and her grandfather, Seedo, who agreed to teach her how to become a shepherd. Her mama is against the idea because she feels it is too dangerous for such a young child and a girl. It is only because Seedo, the head of the family, that Amani is allowed to go with him. The dangerous mountain trails, the hard headed ram Nasty, and keeping up with wandering sheep are not the things Amani had to worry about most when she decided to follow in her grandfather's footsteps. Once summer is over her parents want her to give up her dream and go to school. Once again it is Seedo who comes up with a compromise. Amani's cousins think that she is crazy and call her names and exclude her from their gatherings. Amani still refuses to give up her dream. As time goes by there are two things that Amani cannot ignore. One is that her grandfather's health starts to decline and the second one is how the settlers of Israel are taking her family's land in Palestine. Amani must learn to survive in a very turbulent time in her life, the life of her family, and her country. She has much to lose and gain. Readers will want to know how Amani is able to deal with issues that are totally out of control and hold onto what is most dear to her. This book reflects conflicts that young people currently face in our world in an informed, compassionate, engaging way.
Dowd, Siobhan. Bog Child. Random House Children's Books. 2008. ISBN-13: 9780385751698 530L Ireland
When Fergus McCann finds a 2000-year-old body of a young girl buried in a bog, his life begins to unravel. As Fergus tries to solve the mystery surrounding the body, he gets word that his jailed brother, Joe, has begun a hunger strike protesting the Troubles in Ireland. His family also begins to crumble as his father and mother argue over whether Joe's decision is noble or a pointless path to slow death. Fergus is directly drawn into the Troubles between Ireland and England when he is blackmailed into becoming a smuggler, he believes, for the IRA. Amidst the conflict, Fergus falls for a girl examining the body in the bog. He also struggles to study for exams so he can keep alive his dream of becoming a doctor and the first McCann to attend college. Set during the early 1980s in Ireland, the novel expertly uses the country and its conflicts as a backdrop for this coming-of-age novel. Dowd realistically depicts a character trapped between Irish Republicans and loyalists, between his mother and father, and ultimately between boyhood and adulthood.
Khan, Rukhsana. Wanting Mor. Groundwood Books . 2009. ISBN-13: 9780888998583 Afghanistan
Jameela and her family live in a poor, war-torn village in Afghanistan. Even with her cleft lip and lack of educational opportunities, Jameela feels relatively secure, sustained by her Muslim faith and the love of her mother, Mor. But when Mor dies, Jameela’s father impulsively decides to start a new life in Kabul. Jameela is appalled as he succumbs to alcohol and drugs, then suddenly remarries, a situation that soon has her a virtual slave to a demanding stepmother. After she’s discovered trying to learn to read, Jameela is abandoned in a busy market, eventually landing in an orphanage run by the same army that killed so many members of her family. Throughout it all, the memory of her mother sustains her, giving Jameela the strength to face her father and stepmother when fate brings them together again. Inspired by a true story, and set in a world far removed from that of Western readers, this powerful novel reveals that the desire for identity and self-understanding is universal.
Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk. Daughter of War. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Limited. 2008. ISBN-13: 9781554550449 Armenian Genocide
Set in Turkey in 1916, this novel plunges the reader into the little known episode of genocide in Turkey during the first World War. Told from the dueling perspectives of Marta and Kevork (two Armenian teenagers, forced into hiding, yet who are engaged to each other and desperate to find one another) this gripping novel tells the story of suffering and the atrocities of war from two very different perspectives. While Kevork is in Syria, attempting to make his way back to Marta, Marta is in Turkey, pregnant and afraid. The quest both of these characters are on attests to the difficult times of war, the pain of genocide, and the true commitment and loyalty they have for each other.
Stratton, Allan. Chanda’s Wars. HarperCollins Publishers. 2009. ISBN-13: 9780060872656 AIDS/Africa
Chanda has had a hard life. After her mother died from AIDS she was left to take care of her two younger siblings, Iris and Soly. When life becomes very difficult for Chanda, she decides to take a trip to the village where her mother grew up to heal old wounds and get help from her other relatives. Unfortunately both plans backfire, and instead of having a much needed break, Chanda is cast out of the family (because she refuses to marry the boy next door to heal old family wounds), and her younger siblings are kidnapped and forced to join Mandiki's rebel army. Chanda then shows even more courage as she enters the Bush to rescue the children. She makes the best of the impossible situation she is thrown into. This book is a fictional story with a fictional war, but it is based on real life events in various parts of Africa. The atrocities of this child-war are described in this book but are not terribly graphic. However, the content of this book is not appropriate for younger children.
Rosoff, Meg. How I Live Now. Random House Childrens Books. 2004. ISBN-13: 9780641937569 Terrorism
Manhattanite Daisy, 15, moves to London to stay with an aunt and cousins she's never met. Without preamble or fanfare, an unidentified enemy attacks and war ensues. Her aunt is abroad on a peace mission, meaning that Daisy and her three cousins, with whom she forges a remarkable relationship, must survive almost entirely on their own. This is a very relatable contemporary story, told in honest, raw first-person and filled with humor, love, pathos, and carnage. War, as it will, changes these young people irrevocably, not necessarily for the worse. They and readers know that no one will ever be the same. The story of Daisy and her three exceptional cousins, one of whom becomes her first lover, offers a keen perspective on human courage and resilience. An epilogue, set six years after the conclusion, while war still lingers, ends Daisy's story on a bittersweet, hopeful note.