Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein by Jennifer Roy, Ali Fadhil (review)

Eleven-year-old Ali Fadhil loves his country of Iraq and his family, but also he has a special place in his heart for Superman comic books, video games, and American television. Ali hates, with all his preteen heart, the current president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. The destruction of the Persian Gulf War moves toward Basra and the Fadhil family hides in their home, shaken by the sounds of explosions, beset by limited rations, and fearful of death. Ali blames Saddam, and he maintains a strong affinity for the United States despite being a victim of their attack. Authors Roy and the now adult Fadhil make youthful Ali an uncomplicated narrator who is at times authentically adolescent but other times seems the mouthpiece for an adult's knowledge and political resentment, as when he describes with well-informed cynicism the invasions of Iran and Kuwait when he was one and nine years old. Personal moments are more effective: after finding his mother burning several of his beloved comics in the wood stove, Ali's tantrum is mollified by the realization that the family had no other fuel with which to cook their food. With some of the global sensibility of Ganda and Alifrenka's I Will Always Write Back (BCCB 7/15), the book struggles to balance political commentary with its first-person account but still provides an engaging juvenile memoir. WJ