Compassion and Humanity

One of the strongest threads that run through "Bamboo People" by Mitali Perkins, is that of compassion and humanity. The lives of two teenage boys cross in the most unexpected and unfathomable way. Chiko, a Burmese boy, and Tu Reh, a member of the Karenni tribe that lived in the far reaches of Burma, are on opposing sides of the unrest that exists in the country. Officially, these young boys were playing men in a vicious, relentless war and were the hated enemy of one another.

Chiko had been apprehended and forced against his will to undergo training in a military recruitment center in a remote area of the Burmese jungle. He was a sweet and peaceful young man who wanted only to be a teacher and help his mother. But there was no escaping his fate. He was sent on a mission into the jungle...