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Soldier Boy: A Novel Based on a True Story from the Ugandan Civil War Audiobook
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"Powerful writing based on the real life of Ricky Anywar is heightened by narrator Kevin R. Free's dramatic reading. Free's use of an African accent carries readers to the Ugandan setting and the stories of two characters — one real, one fictional." — AudioFile Magazine
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 audiobook about a boy’s unbreakable spirit and indomitable courage in the face of unimaginable horror.
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“Powerful writing based on the real life of Ricky Anywar is heightened by narrator Kevin R. Free’s dramatic reading. Free’s use of an African accent carries readers to the Ugandan setting and the stories of two characters—one real, one fictional…Free’s characterizations vary from the diabolical menace of Ricky’s commanders to the nurturing compassion that the grown-up Ricky provides Samuel…This may be one of the most difficult audios you’ll ever hear. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
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“A visceral indictment of man’s inhumanity to man, while also celebrating human beings’ ability to empathize and to rescue those who desperately need saving.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“A compelling tale…with a message of hope…A must-purchase for teen collections.”
— School Library Journal (starred review) -
“In this brutal debut novel inspired by real-life events, Hutton addresses the horrors of the Ugandan civil war through two child soldiers…Hutton doesn’t shy from discussions of rape, torture, and abuse—but it’s eye-opening and relevant.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“A story that stands up for the unrelenting power of the human spirit to reject evil, the nigh-impossible odds that must be conquered to escape enslavement, and the deep scars that remain for a lifetime…Unapologetically searing and catastrophically truthful.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Over the years I have read many novels and memoirs about children and warfare in modern Africa, but Soldier Boy stands out as one of the very best.”
— Alicia Catharine Decker, author of In Idi Amin’s Shadow -
Powerful writing based on the real life of Ricky Anywar is heightened by narrator Kevin R. Free's dramatic reading.
— AudioFile
Awards
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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Among longlisted titles for Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List, 2018
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Among longlisted titles for Booklist Editors' Choice, 2017
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Among longlisted titles for Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List, 2018
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Among longlisted titles for Booklist Editors' Choice, 2017
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About Keely Hutton
Keely Hutton is a novelist, educational journalist, and former teacher. She is the recipient of the Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop scholarship at Chautauqua. She worked closely with Ricky Richard Anywar to tell his story in her first novel, Soldier Boy.
About Kevin R. Free
Kevin R. Free is an audiobook narrator and the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and several AudioFile best narrations of the year selections. Known for his work with young-adult novels, he has read titles by Rick Riordan, Walter Dean Myers, and Joe Haldeman. In 2011 he was named a Best Voice in Young Adult and Fantasy from AudioFile magazine for his narration of Myers’ The Cruisers: Checkmate.