cover image My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary

My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary

Nadja Halilbegovich, . . Kids Can, $14.95 (120pp) ISBN 978-1-55337-797-9

Written over a span of three years, Halilbegovich's trenchant journal opens on May 31, 1992, almost two months after the then 12-year-old's life changed drastically with the outbreak of war in her native Bosnia. Her inaugural entry explains that she took pen to paper because "I can no longer bear all my piled-up feelings." Indeed, a range of Nadja's deeply felt emotions emerges in these entries: sadness at the loss of her pre-war existence and contact with friends, outrage at the constant bombings and escalating death toll, and dismay at the apparent indifference of the international community ("They say that thirteen thousand children have been killed in my country. Yet the world remains silent"). In one of the most dramatic entries, she recounts being seriously injured in an explosion that rocks her apartment building, just after she steps outside for a rare breath of fresh air. Brighter moments include the girl participating in a weekly radio quiz for youngsters, recording her poetry for the radio, and performing with a renowned children's choir. Curious readers may be frustrated that the author mentions the roots of the conflict only in vague terms ("We've heard that our defenders are advancing in the battles across Bosnia, so the aggressors are taking their revenge on Sarajevo"), and some may feel that the "looking back" sections interrupt the narrative flow. Yet this immediate and resonant account underscores war's devastating impact—especially on the lives of children. Ages 10-up. (Mar.)