The child soldier horrors in the Drone Child novel, alas, are not pure fiction.

In the above video, author-activist Michel Chikwanine tells how Congolese rebels forced him as a boy soldier to kill his best friend—just as a 13-year in Child must murder his parents.

That happened years ago, but the atrocities go on. President Biden has acted to try to discourage the use of child soldiers in the Congo and elsewhere, but America could be doing much more (here and here).

Global interest in the gener...