When my children were eight years old, they were fighting me on cleaning their rooms, not taking food out of the kitchen, and doing their homework. When Tamba Cisso, the main character in Marion Achard's graphic novel Tamba, Child Soldier, is eight, he is kidnapped from his village and forced to fight in a guerilla war he doesn't even understand. This powerful story and its illustrations, based on real experiences and real children, help to show just how far apart my children's world and the world of children like Tamba are.

Opening with Tamba's appearance in front of a truth and reconciliation commission, the novel has a tearful Tamba telling the horrifying story of how he came to be a child soldier against his will, what he did during the war, how and why he escaped, and his life as a refugee carrying enormous amounts of guilt for his past actions. The panels telling of Tamba's past are incongruously colorful while the panels depicting the commission which are interspersed with his recounting are earthy, almost sepia toned. The illustrations, with their subtle shading, add emotional depth to the appalling story. The country it all takes place in remains unnamed so that it can stand for any African country at war with itself, using its most innocent to wage that war. It is hard to look at but also impossible to look away from, especially knowing that there are still many child soldiers out there, war destroying them almost more than it is destroying their countries.

After the conclusion of the novel, there are brief, factual histories of child soldiers, truth and reconciliation commissions, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The telling is haunting and terrible and it doesn't shy away from the immediate and long-term devastation perpetrated on the child Tamba and his people and it acknowledges the difficulty in assigning responsibility for all of the hurt and the terror and the inhumanity. This is a gut-wrenching look at the life of a child soldier, the weight these children will carry forever, and the ways in which some countries are trying to heal with compassion for both the children compelled to commit these atrocities and their victims. ( )

Literary merit: Great
Characterization: Good
Recommend: highly recommend
Level: high school

This is the story of a child soldier in an unnamed country who escapes and becomes a refugee. The author notes in the back of the book literature that the country is left undefined because this is an issue that occurs in many countries and this book represents the bigger issue than any one country or conflict. The story is told as a graphic novel which really adds to the ways the read can connect with the characters. The artwork is stunningly beautiful and the coloring is perfect for the mood of the story. Our main character is stolen from his home along with several other boys and 1 girl to be enlisted as child soldiers. They are given drugs to keep their strength up and make them do horrific things for the sake of war. The girl is raped by a visiting senior officer (implied, not shown on the page) and when she finds out she is pregnant she and the boy escape. The story then becomes about the refugee crisis and how 10,000 refugees were lost when they went to hide in the forest to escape persecution. They eventually find their way to get aid, but it is a brutal journey. The is a hard story to read because of the events but also shows the strength of the human spirit. I had no idea that children were stolen away to be soldiers and teaching readers more about it is the goal of this story. While the events are horrible, the author maintains just the right balance of evoking empathy while also holding readers at enough distance that they can get through reading about it. ( )