Mitali PerkinsBamboo People

An exiting adventure. In the jungles of Burma men and children are fighting in a war for the freedom of their homeland. The story begins with a boy named Chiko. He is looking for the school in his town to apply as a teacher but he accidentally steps into a room full of people applying to be street sweepers. All of the sudden the doors open up to where soldiers are waiting to take them away and make them soldiers as well. Chicko is taken to a training facility for soldiers. The man who runs the camp makes them do almost impossible tasks. Chiko makes friends with another Burmese kid in camp named Tu Reh. The captain of the camp sends Chiko on a mission. During the mission a mine kills Chiko’s team but Chiko lives. An enemy soldier saves Chiko and brings him to a healer hut in the jungle. The enemy solider brings Chiko and the healer back to his camp, and healer tries to heal Chiko. Chiko looses his leg to an infection and tries to find his way back home. This book follows his journey back home. In the story Chiko encounters enemy soldiers, learns how to live off the land, and makes friends. Chiko is a 15-year-old Burmese kid growing up in Yangon, Burma. Chiko is kind, shy, timid, and slight. His Father was arrested because he was considered a traitor of the government. Chiko can read and write in Burmese and English. In the book I found that the overall theme was perseverance. I thought the theme was perseverance because Chiko has to endure through camp, the jungle the, loss of his leg, and finding his way back home. I think reading about a kid persevering through hard times is very motivational. When I was reading this book I realized some kids my age have to persevere through much harder things than I do. I think this book was very good. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure novels. The reason I would recommend this is because it’s a fast non-stop adventure.

Chiko wants to be a teacher. When he sees an announcement in the Burmese papers to make his application in person, he decides the time has come to follow his dream. On his arrival at the address to take his teaching exam, the Burmese army forces him into a bus, together with other young men. In a matter of minutes, Chiko’s taken away to the depths of the jungle to begin three years of forced service in the army.The indoctrination begins at once. Chiko is told the Karenni tribe wants to tear Burma apart. In order to save his country, he is ordered to fight the Karenni. These orders come from the same military force that arrested his father, a doctor, for using his healing gifts for an “enemy of the state”. Alone in the mountainous jungles, stripped of all he has except for two photographs and his broken glasses, Chiko has to find his way through this new life.Bamboo People is a powerful story of a young man facing monumental challenges. His mother, already heart-broken over the imprisonment of his father, will be wildly afraid when he doesn’t return. Chiko is surrounded by young recruits who don’t want to kill the tribal people any more than he does. The Burmese soldiers drive them hard, through jungles full of hidden mines. In these life-changing times Chiko learns lessons of courage and friendship that prove to be crucial for his survival, and for that of the Burmese youth with him.The first refugees I ever worked with were Karen refugees from Thailand refugee camps. They fled their village as the Burmese army closed in to burn it to the ground and to enslave their tribe. Bamboo People tells a story that needs to be heard. It’s a story of hope and of truth, vividly written. I highly recommend this novel.--Kate Calina

My daughter spent two summers working with Karenni refugees at a place called the Bamboo School just inside the Thai border. The heart-wrenching stories she learned about the children at the school would bring an adult to their knees. Yet each day these children get up, go to school and move on with their lives under the watchful eye and loving guidance of MoMo Kat, a Australian woman who has literally given them her life. You can learn more about this particular school/orphanage/rescue operation at [...]Comparing this book to the things my daughter saw/heard, the author has done an admirable job of bringing the gut-wrenching choices young people on both sides of this conflict must face without dwelling on the violence that accompanies the daily life of Karenni and Burmese people.We are a global community. We need to start educating our children about their global neighbors. This book would be a great start. It should be required reading in every middle school as an integrated curriculum assignment between Social Studies and Reading. The author's website [...] provides teacher guides and other tools to assist in using this book in the classroom.

I love this book. It's truly amazing. I read it when I was younger and had to buy it again. I am, however, very disappointed with the product itself. When I got this book I immediately started reading, but when I tried to turn the first page, about 20 pages just came off. It will make it difficult to read, but I am hoping that is the only issue I have with this book.

I chose to read this book because one of the ethnic groups resettled from the country known as Burma--the Karenni--are now living and working in the small East Texas city where I live. I wanted to accept and understand these people who have been victims of such cruel oppression and have had to give up their homes and flee to a country where everything is totally unfamiliar to them. They, with their admirable efforts to become good citizens here, are a reminder of how fortunate we are not to be walking in their shoes. Some of the scenes in this novel will break your heart, but will also give you a deeper understanding of what it means to live in a free country which we can claim as our own.

Excellent book, I have been working with refugees from Burma for 15 years and this book was a nice way to introduce that world to my friends teens and I even spoke in a middle school classroom that was teaching the book. Thank you for this resource!

After getting a replacement of the book it was yet damaged

Package arrived very quickly. Daughter has to read this book for school, she finds it very interesting.