Deborah Ellis,
Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2009

Rating: G*

"People watch war in the movies and they think they know what it’s like. They don’t know. If they knew they wouldn’t allow it to happen. Only very sick, bad people would want to make war" (p. 21)

"We came to Jordan on May 5, 2005, after the killing of my father. He was a goldsmith.

My whole life has been war. Really, from the moment I was born. My mother was giving birth to me when a missile hit the hospital. This was during the war with Iran. (p. 43)

"We live in Amman with my grandmother, two aunts, two uncles and five children, plus my brother and me. The rain comes in when it’s raining outside, But at least we are alive.

My father and mother are dead, and so are two of my uncles." (P. 58)

In this book Deborah Ellis portrays the most tragic victims of the Iraq War - the children. Using an interview format which she has used in two previous books, Ellis brings us the stories of a number of children who have been affected by the war in Iraq in their own words. Many of the children are stuck in remote camps without access to schools, health care, electricity or even food and clean water or they have fled to countries such as Jordan or Syria where they face uncertain futures. Very few of the refugees have been allowed into the countries of the Coalition of the Willing and their NATO allies. The children whom Ellis portrays in this book are mostly refugees who fled Iraq and were living in Jordan in 2007.

Each child’s story is preceded by some background information which helps gives some context to the individual children’s stories. A picture is included with most stories. The stories, in many cases, portray what life was like in Iraq before the war began as well as how the children and their families were affected by the war and how they are coping at the time of the interviews. Children range in age from 8 to 19 and some tell their stories as individuals while others tell them as siblings.

The stories contained in this book are heart-wrenching. We hear of young children being separated from their parents and other family members through death and imprisonment, most of the time in a very violent manner. We hear of children who can no longer go to school, who have very little food and clothing and no hope for the future. Once again, Ellis brings us into the turmoil of a war-torn country and the repercussions it is causing on the civilians, especially the children - the innocent victims.

This book would be a good addition to contemporary social studies programs at the junior high and high school levels. I would recommend it highly.

Thematic Links: Iraq - War; Refugees; Children and War

Victoria Pennell
Vol. 15, number 2
October 2009

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.