TAMBA, Child Soldier

by Marion Achard, Yann Degruel

Overview

"My name is Tamba Cisso. When I was eight years old, I lived in the village with my father, my mother and my sister. I went to school and had learned to read. I knew there was war in my country, but I didn’t know that children could wage it.”

Providing a testimonial to one of the most heart-wrenching and chilling developments in modern warfare, this graphic novel chronicles the realities of hundreds of thousands across the world, kidnapped and forced to commit atrocities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681122366
Publisher:	N B M Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/15/2019
Edition description:	None
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	13 - 16 Years

About the Author

Marion Achard is a French writer and circus performer. She co-founded a touring circus where she performs as acrobat and juggler. She has also written children’s books. This is her first graphic novel. Yan Degruel is a French artist who has published many graphic novels for kids including adaptations of Rudyard Kipling.

Editorial Reviews

"Although a work of fiction, this graphic novel accurately chronicles and presents the realities of hundreds of thousands across the world, kidnapped and forced to commit atrocities. TAMBA: Child Soldier is unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library collections." —Midwest Book Review 

From the Publisher

10/11/2019

Gr 8 Up-Tamba Cisso is a stand-in for hundreds of thousands of child soldiers exploited around the world. Sitting before a truth and reconciliation commission at age 16, he explains how he was abducted at age eight from an unspecified African village and forced to commit atrocities under threat of death. His experiences, as well as those of former neighbor Awa and peer Aceyta, paint a bleak picture of hyperviolent masculinity, drug addiction, rape, and endless nightmares. Escaping these abducting armies for a refugee camp is a struggle that includes learning to socialize again and reconfigure his fight-or-flight response. This tragic, high-stakes graphic novel and its haunting aftermath are gripping and dramatic, much like Sandra Uwiringiyimana's How Dare the Sun Rise or Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani's Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree. Degruel's illustrations work best when depicting inner conflict, such as Tamba wrestling with guilt or Awa despairing over her baby's future. Figures often appear flat or with little detail, but the narrative and layouts are simple enough that readers won't get lost. Articles at the end of the book relay statistics and the history surrounding child soldiers, United Nations refugee programs, and truth and reconciliation commissions. VERDICT Exploring violence, trauma, guilt, and forgiveness, this fictionalized account of an African child soldier, infused with a thin ray of hope, will speak to readers' shared humanity.-Thomas Maluck, Richland Library, SC

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