Themes: Africa, Revolution, Violence, War, Child Soldiers, Survival, Historic Fiction, Fiction, Tween, Emergent Reader, Chapter Book, Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo Books, Hi-Lo Solutions, High-Low Books, Hi-Low Books, ELL, EL, ESL, Struggling Learner, Struggling Reader, Special Education, SPED, Newcomers, Reading, Learning, Education, Educational, Educational Books. Kojis world is like any boys. He loves sports. Goes to school. Studies hard. Dreams big. But childhood ends quickly. Rebel forces enter his village. They ransack the school. Their teacher is beaten. Maybe even killed. The boys line up, guns to their backs. Kojis group goes one way. His best friends another. Whats happened to his family? They are all dead, says a rebel. And you will be too if you dont do what we say. They march for hours. Days. One boy drinks too much water. He is hit again and again. Then murdered. The boys watch and learn. That will not be their fate. Its kill or be killed. So they kill White Lightning Books addresses a wide variety of themes and interests in a narrow range of reading levels, no higher than a 2.5. Students who struggle to read will often not recover from low reading achievement in elementary school if their particular interests are not addressed. Encouragement and finding the theme to hook them is key. These are not YA or elementary booksa fact younger teens will appreciate. Each book is approximately 100 pages with covers that will appeal to young teen readers. The titles in the White Lightning series are designed in a similar style. Students will know what to expect when they pick up a book: a fast-paced story, mature and age-appropriate topics, short chapters, and achievable reading success.