Drone Child: A Novel of War, Family, and Survival

by David H. Rothman Narrated by Dion Graham

Overview

Drone Child is about family and love in a violent, chaotic society, and the terror you feel when khaki-clad thugs imperil your dearest ones. Kidnapped for his brilliance, a 15-year-old tech genius must fly deadly drones and fight as a sea-going pirate to keep his parents alive.

Can he escape and also free his twin sister in time from the clutches of a major sex-trafficker?

Earlier he worked as a self-taught Internet expert in the mega-city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while his songbird sister aspired to be a rumba star. But murderous gun-worshippers chloroformed him and whisked him away. Now he must fight for the wrong side.

Performed by the award-winning Dion Graham, the story is told as Lemba Adula's war memoir looking back 25 years earlier in the 2020s.

Junior Boweya and Jean Felix Mwema Ngandu critiqued and fact-checked the book.

Recording of March 2022 version. Mature young adults and older. No obscenity or explicit sex. 

PRAISE FOR DRONE CHILD

"A brainy, irresistible hero braves captivity to protect his family in this riveting tale." - Kirkus Reviews

 "Share this action-packed, sensitively rendered audio with fans of Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone and Emmanuel Jal's War Child.” - Library Journal

"Intriguing storyline. The writing is rich and evocative... A hefty tapestry interwoven with the possibilities for change." - African American Literature Book Club.

“A tense narrative in which scenes of degradation and violence are effective without being overly graphic... A compelling story... Interesting choice for book clubs.” - BlueInk Review in ALA's Booklist

"The barbarities of the conflict in Ukraine make Drone Child all the timelier." - The Midwest Book Review

"...should be lauded for the frank conversations it has the power to open for younger readers.” - Readers' Favorite.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal - Audio

09/01/2022

Set in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2050, a former child soldier reflects on his nightmarish time as a conscript in the Congolese Purification Army. Rothman (The Solomon Scandals) highlights the horrors of warfare in this all-too-timely tale. To escape brutal revolutionary soldiers known as the "Purifiers," 15-year-old Lemba Adula and his twin sister, Josiane, flee their home for the capital city, Kinshasha. While they find work at an Internet café—Lemba providing tech assistance, and Josiane singing—their safety is short-lived, as Lemba's skills attract the attention of the Purifiers, and he is soon forced to join their ranks. With a sorrowful voice, narrator Dion Graham describes how Lemba is blackmailed into assisting the Purifiers and their twisted leader, Demon Killer, into piloting bomb-carrying drones and killing civilians from afar. Graham skillfully captures the cadence of Lemba's speech, intense but also tinged with regret. With cinematic precision, Graham depicts the larger-than-life characters that Lemba encounters, from unhinged Demon Killer to the sleazy internet-café proprietor. VERDICT Share this action-packed, sensitively rendered audio with fans of Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone or Emmanuel Jal's War Child.—Sarah Hashimoto

Kirkus Reviews

2022-01-27
In this novel, a Congolese teen uses his intelligence to survive among a group of vicious kidnappers that strong-arm children into becoming soldiers.

Lemba Adula and his family share a happy life in the modest village of Zange in Congo. The bright 15-year-old’s tinkering with electronics such as TVs and radios earns him the name “The Fix-It Boy.” Sadly, the Purification Army threatens Zange’s peaceful existence. These armed men force children to murder their own parents before involuntarily joining the “Purifiers.” While the villagers hide from the Purifiers during a raid on Zange, they fear the sinister group will return. Lemba and his twin sister, Josiane, feel the only way to keep their parents safe is by leaving home. They find work in Congo’s modernized capital city of Kinshasa—Josiane sings, and Lemba makes money with his computer skills. Unexpectedly, his drone-piloting aptitude catches the eyes of Purifiers, who abduct him. He has no choice but to help the group attack its enemies (often innocents) via drone assaults, especially when it uses his parents as leverage. Lemba’s predicament only turns more dire when he learns that Josiane has vanished. In this gripping story, Rothman delivers an immensely appealing young protagonist whose brisk, first-person narration teems with colorful details. Lemba describes a video game joystick as “a distant cousin of my third-hand rifle” and rubs shoulders with a street hustler that has “a built-in GPS for sleaze.” Though Lemba is unquestionably at the mercy of his captors, his adeptness at nearly everything he does makes his plight somewhat less harrowing; he even masters jujitsu from YouTube videos. Meanwhile, there are mere glimpses of the hardships that others suffer, including Josiane. Readers will nevertheless cheer Lemba as he faces off against muscular, AK-47–loving Purifiers brandishing monikers like “Demon Killer.”

A brainy, irresistible hero braves captivity to protect his family in this riveting tale.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175392020
Publisher:	David H. Rothman
Publication date:	03/31/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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