This informational text details photographer Jenny Matthews’s experiences in major conflict zones around the world, focusing specifically on war’s effect on children. Her journey includes the personal stories and color photographs of refugees around the world. Map of Conflicts, The Main Conflicts, Websites, Glossary.

This book is a great introduction book into the war and life in the middle east. It's not written like a story but short paragraphs that touch on different parts of life such as, refugees, camps, work, and family style. I like this style for readers because you don't have to read the whole book to learn or understand a message. I also like how brief each section is, not too long to make the reader become unengaged. While there isn't a distinct theme in the book, there are many things the reader can take away. It exposes them to a new culture, and a way of life that is very different than life in the United States. This book also can teach us that life can be really hard sometimes, even for the youngest of children. Because of the content in this book, I would only recommend it to readers 3rd grade and above. ( )

Children Growing up with War, by Jenny Matthews, is a non-fiction informational text combining statistics, photographs, first-hand accounts, and personal anecdotes to describe the atrocities of war and the difficulties growing up in a war-torn country. The photographs and personal testimonies put a human face to these mind-numbing statistics, and do so in an age-appropriate way. Powerful and perspective-shifting read! ( )