  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 05/15/2017 During the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Iranian boys as young as 12 were conscripted to fight in the military. Two such boys are Reza and his best friend Ebi. Thinking they are embarking on a grand adventure, the two boys are swiftly disabused of this notion when, en route to their first camp, they pass mounds of dead bodies. Worse, when they are subsequently sent into action, they realize they are meant to be nothing but cannon fodder. Barely surviving a land mine explosion, Reza is captured and remanded to an Iraqi prisoner of war camp, where he has the misfortune of making an enemy of a sadistic guard who threatens to torture and kill him. How can he survive? Could Miles, an Irish aid worker who has befriended him, help? Rosenblatt’s debut is fiction, but rooted in fact: the plight of “lost boy soldiers” was all too real. Thanks to careful research and a well-written narrative, Rosenblatt brings their stories to vivid and memorable life. The lost boys, at least here, are found. - Copyright 2017 Booklist. School Library Journal - 06/01/2017 Gr 8 Up—The year is 1982, and Iran is at war with neighboring Iraq. Twelve-year-old Reza has no desire to fight; he loves music and would rather play the piano and listen to the contraband Western songs supplied by his beloved uncle Habib. But he rethinks his plans when his uncle is killed, his best friend Ebi decides to enlist, and his mother tells him she wants him to fight and honor their family even if he dies. Reza and Ebi join the Iranian army, and then, in a horrific scene, their cohort of child soldiers are sent across a minefield to set off the mines with their expendable small bodies. The rest of the story follows Reza's time in an Iraqi prisoner-of-war camp among the other "lost boys" of the book's title. Reza's adolescent rebellion, passion for music, and loyalty to his friends make him an appealing protagonist, and the constant dangers threatening him create a compelling read. Secondary characters demonstrate the complexity of attitudes and loyalties during the Iran-Iraq conflict: the unseen Iranian army leaders send their own country's children to be mangled, while an Iraqi guard helps Reza escape sure death at the prisoner-of-war camp. Historically accurate violence and occasional swearing and sexual references, all appropriate to the subject of the book, make this selection best suited for older middle school and high school readers. VERDICT A powerful look at a tragic period in history that belongs in most YA collections.—Beth Wright Redford, Richmond Elementary School Library, VT - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
 |