Chanda’s Wars by Allan Stratton

Imagine if you were a young teenager without a mom or a dad and left to take care of your siblings who are both under 7 years old. Hard to imagine right? But for teenager Chanda Kabelo it is not hard to imagine because it is her life. Chanda is living in an African country with her mother and siblings when her mother passes away. Six months after her mother’s death, Chanda is having constant nightmares about the night she dies and is left to take care of her 5 year old brother, Soly, and 6 year old sister, Iris. In order to end a family feud, she takes her brother and sister with her to her family's small village. While she is visiting her family, things go downhill, an evil warlord (General Mandiki) from across the border comes taking child soldiers, including Soly and Iris. Chanda and a family friend, Nelson, must face their fears and do whatever it will take to save Soly, Iris, and all of the other children. You will encounter sorrow, disaster, violence, love, anger, and many shocking events.
The theme of this book is perseverance and bravery. Perseverance because Chanda never gave up on trying to convince people that General Madiki was actually taking over and she never gave up on trying to rescue Iris and Soly. Bravery because Chanda faced so many of her fears; going to try and resolve things with her family and rescuing Iris and Soly. I believe the author was showing how people in third world countries live every single day and how to inform us all on what people, for example Joseph Kony and many others, are doing to children all over. I have learned a lot from this book and I realize now many conflicts and problems that are happening in so many other countries. I am also going to start taking advantage of my opportunities and realize that compared to so many other people, my life is pretty great.
I absolutely recommend this book, it’s thrilling, and tear jerking and I felt so many emotions during this book I cannot explain. Some other people also agreed with me; ALA Booklist said, “Chanda’s immediate, first-person, present-tense is neither sentimental nor graphic as it brings close the personal struggle with all its pain and loss, shame and guilt.” Kirkus Reviews raved, “Powerful… The strong, respectful writing makes this crucial and broadly relevant story unfailingly human.” This book made me sad, angry, anxious, and scared; I do not think that I have felt this many emotions in a book before and I can assure you, if you read this, you will feel perhaps the exact same emotions.