Amani's River

By: David Hartness

Narrated by: Clay Lomakayu

Ten-year-old Aderito has been brought from the United States to the banks of a beautiful river in Homoine, Mozambique. There he befriends a young girl named Victoria, and for a brief time their childhood is promising.

Soon the violence that is raging across the country makes its way to Aderito's doorstep, and both children are abducted by rebels and forced to learn the ways of trained killers in a war they barely understand.

With only each other for support, Victoria and Aderito struggle to remain unnoticed among their peers. But the more Aderito kills, the more he needs killing, channeling all his rage into war and becoming a valuable weapon. Victoria, growing older and prettier by the day, begins to attract unwanted attention from their captors.

Caught in a battle that ravages villages and tears families apart, Aderito knows he cannot expect a happy ending. And yet he and Victoria make brave plans to escape - only to find themselves facing torments that no adult, let alone child, should ever have to face. As Mozambique struggles through its defining crisis, Aderito, too, must find a way to survive the childhood that will come to define him as a man.

©2015 David Hartness (P)2015 David Hartness

Critic reviews

"A chilling story of child soldiers in Africa." (Kirkus Reviews)

Heartwrenchingly Engaging

Would you listen to Amani's River again? Why?

No, it was to emotional for me

What did you like best about this story?

Aderito's love for Victoria

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Clay Lomakayu?

Someone without such an over pronunciation of their "s" sounds.

If you could rename Amani's River, what would you call it?

Childhood Thieves of War

Any additional comments?

This was a good read but hard on the emotions. Some accounts were described very vividly.