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Rafiq is living a quiet and fairly uneventful existence in his remote Kashmiri village. He's close to his younger sister Jameela and he's helping her learn to read - despite his father's mild disapproval. For what reason would a girl need to read? Otherwise, he goes to school and studies and plays ball games with his friends; just what boys do all day all across the world. Rafiq is tall for his age and strong, and he's an obedient child who listens to to his father and tries to live up to his high standards.
And then the militants come. They take Rafiq and other village boys and spirit them away high up into the mountains and a training camp. And Rafiq's life changes for good. He's taught to shoot, to set mines, and he's indoctrinated with the nationalist fervour of the Kashmiri separatists. And eventually , he's sent on terrorist missions. Back at home, life goes on much as it ever did, but the grief of Rafiq's loss weighs like a stone in the hearts of Jameela and her mother.
It's a fine line between boy and soldier and Jane Mitchell treads it well in this tremendously powerful book. Thousands of children are abducted by militias all across the world every year. They're beaten, bullied, trained and brainwashed, and they are turned into killing machines whose lives are cheap. You can't write a book about it without exploring the horror, and, laudably, Mitchell doesn't shrink from any of it. There is a particularly distressing scene in which one boy is stoned to death and it will shock. But these are boys, and Mitchell never loses sight of that either.
My thanks to the nice people at Walker for sending the book.
A child's experience of conflict is explored by Elizabeth Laird in [[Oranges in No Man's Land by Elizabeth Laird|Oranges in No Man's Land]]. Laird also looks at the abuse of children forced to become camel jockeys in [[Lost Riders by Elizabeth Laird|Lost Riders]]. [[Message in a Bottle by Valerie Zenatti]] focuses on teenagers in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We've also enjoyed [[A Dangerous Crossing by Jane Mitchell]].
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