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“Unapologetically searing and catastrophically truthful, a reminder to readers that it demands much to meet harsh realities with impossible courage.” –Kirkus Reviews

Soldier Boy

Written by Keely Hutton
Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Soldier Boy begins with the story of Ricky Richard Anywar, abducted at age fourteen in 1989 to fight with Joseph Kony’s rebel army in Uganda’s decades-long civil war. Ricky is trained, armed, and forced to fight government soldiers alongside his brutal kidnappers, but never stops dreaming of escape. The story continues twenty years later, with a fictionalized character named Samuel, representative of the thousands of child soldiers Ricky eventually helped rehabilitate as founder of the internationally acclaimed charity Friends of Orphans. Working closely with Ricky himself, debut author Keely Hutton has written an eye-opening book about a boy’s unbreakable spirit and indomitable courage. Beginning in Africa amidst the horrors of civil war, his is a story that is as uplifting as it is heartwrenching.

Primary ISBN: 9780374305635
Available As: Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook
Middle Grade, Age 12 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: ,

Setting: Uganda

Character’s New Arrival/New American Status: In Home Country

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