Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees
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The United States and its allies invaded Iraq seven years ago. Today the country is still at war, and no one can claim that true democracy has come. Four million Iraqis have been displaced, and about half of them, unable to flee the country, are now living in remote tent camps without access to schools, health care, or often even food and clean water. In Children of War, a companion title to Off to War: Voices of Soldiers’ Children, Deborah Ellis turns her attention to the most tragic victims of the Iraq war — Iraqi children. She interviews two dozen young people, mostly refugees living in Jordan, but also a few who are trying to build new lives in North America. Their frank and harrowing stories reveal inspiring resilience as the children try to survive the consequences of a war in which they play no part.VOYAChild refugees from the Iraqi war tell their stories in their own words in this companion book to Off to War: Voices of Soldier's Children (Groundwood, 2008/VOYA December 2008), a collection of stories of children of American and Canadian soldiers. This collection offers a non-North American perspective of what occurred and is occurring in Iraq. Short autobiographical narrations of children, ages eight to nineteen, are prefaced with background information about Iraq or the child and their photos. Two themes recur throughout the stories: the lack of control that the children feel over their circumstances and the loss of their childhood. The stories are poignant, heart wrenching, and ring with truth. As if from the mouth of babes, in this case from ten-year-old Haneen, comes, "The war happened because Iraq has oil. And there is a high building somewhere in America that was blown up. They thought Iraq blew it up, so that's why they blew up places in Iraq." There is an introduction of eighteen-year-old Eman but no story because Eman is unable to talk. Her mother believes her problem is the result of chemicals that came from the bombs dropped on Iraq. The vocabulary is difficult for upper elementary students, but could be very effective as a read-aloud. All ages can relate to these children. The book, which is a good fit for school libraries, could be a starting point for a discussion on the impact of war on children from the child's perspective. Reviewer: Susan Allen
