Soldier Boy

Starred review from May 1, 2017
In this brutal debut novel inspired by real-life events, Hutton addresses the horrors of the Ugandan civil war through two child soldiers. The narrative primarily follows Ricky Richard Anywar, kidnapped at age 14 and forcibly inducted into Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army alongside his brother and friends in 1989. Over the next few years, Ricky survives horrifying conditions, brutal training, and numerous combat missions, always looking for a chance to escape. Meanwhile, in 2006, 11-year-old Samuel recuperates from grievous injuries after falling in battle, unable to trust his caregivers or the strange man who insists on learning his story. Both boys are forced to confront the memories of lost friends and the things they did to stay alive. Hutton approaches the setting, conflict, and characters with unremitting honesty, drawing from Anywar’s own life (he contributes an afterword) while using the fictional Samuel as a stand-in for the current generation of unwilling soldiers. This isn’t an easy or pleasant read—Hutton doesn’t shy from discussions of rape, torture, and abuse—but it’s eye-opening and relevant. Ages 13–up. Agent: Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts, HSG Agency.

April 1, 2017
Spanning the conflict-laden years of Uganda's recent history, this debut novel-meets-biography is based on the true story of a former enslaved child soldier who escaped and found his own salvation in providing sanctuary for children who suffered a similar fate. Ricky Richard Anywar was abducted as a child soldier in 1989 to fight for the Lord's Resistance Army, led by the infamous fugitive war criminal Joseph Kony, as continuing legacies of political corruption and economic instability set Uganda on a dark path to civil war. This powerful novel, which features scenes of sheer horror, does not depend on readers' ability to decipher the overwhelming structural factors that have thrown Ricky's Uganda into violent chaos. Rather, it is most significantly a story that stands up for the unrelenting power of the human spirit to reject evil, the nigh-impossible odds that must be conquered to escape enslavement, and the deep scars that remain for a lifetime. In 2006, Samuel, a composite character representative of the thousands of children helped by Anywar's acclaimed Friends of Orphans charity, gives voice to this intimate process of recovery. Interleaved chapters tell Ricky's story from 1989 to 1992. Through Ricky's story, Samuel can find himself home again, before he was a rebel and a soldier, before he was a victim and an orphan, to the time when he "was a student and classmate. A cousin and friend. A brother and son." Unapologetically searing and catastrophically truthful, a reminder to readers that it demands much to meet harsh realities with impossible courage. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 13-18)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-A compelling tale that recounts the story of former, real-life Ugandan child soldier Ricky Richard Anywar. Told in alternating chapters that focus on Ricky's past and the present-day story of Samuel, this brutally honest novel will have readers struggling to move through the often gruesome initiation of kidnapped children into the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Ricky is consumed by fear and desperation as he attempts to escape from the LRA with his older brother. Samuel's narration is permeated with distrust and alarm as he figures out how to deal with a severe injury and his placement in a rehabilitation program. This book is filled with many instances of graphic violence. Hutton's intense accounts of families burned alive and machete attacks on villagers emphasize the emotional anguish. While the subject matter is mature, the story is accessible and addresses topics such as world history, civil war, and shifting political powers. A description of the Friends of Orphans program ends this work with a message of hope. Readers may liken this title to memoirs such as Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. An author's note explains that Hutton spent a considerable amount of time with Anywar and read through several interviews with other survivors to craft accurate depictions of life as a child soldier. VERDICT A must-purchase for teen collections, with the understanding that this text portrays traumatic childhood violence associated with civil war.-Monica Cabarcas, Albemarle High School, Charlottesville, VA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2017
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* The year is 1989 and 14-year-old Rickyhis whole family, except his brother Patrick, having been brutally murderedhas been kidnapped from his northern Uganda village by the LRA, the Lord's Resistance Army, and pressed into service as a soldier with this unspeakably cruel rebel force. Flash-forward to the year 2006, when another Ugandan boy, 11-year-old Samuel, is wounded in battle, abandoned by his LRA comrades, and, found by a government soldier, brought to a Friends of Orphans camp. Not understanding that he has been rescued by this relief organization, Samuel is determined to escape those he regards as his captors. The novel then moves backward and forward in time as the two boys' stories unfold from their respective points of view. Samuel's story is imagined, but Ricky's is real; Hutton's novel is a lightly fictionalized story of Ricky Richard Anywar, who, himself a former enslaved soldier, grew up to found the internationally acclaimed relief organization Friends of Orphans. The novel is a visceral indictment of man's inhumanity to man, while also celebrating human beings' ability to empathize and to rescue those who desperately need saving. For a similar reading experience, refer readers to Patricia McCormick's Never Fall Down (2012).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)