The story of a U.S. soldier in Iraq, this young adult novel has some great lines such “doing drive-bys in the name of democracy” and an Iraqi man saying in response to an American soldier asking what he wants, “Treat our lives as if they are as precious as your own.”
There is a memorable passage where the soldier, Birdie, sees his first person killed. The victim is a teenager and the grandmother’s wails make Birdie realize that this chilling event is tragic regardless of “whose side” the teenage boy was on. In addition to the day to day experiences of the war, Walter Dean Myers weaves in the limited media coverage of the war and raises questions about the U.S. government “intelligence.”
This is an excellent book on the injustice, horrors and stupidity of war. Its only shortcoming is that the conclusion questions why God would let this happen, but does not ask the same about the U.S. government. Nor does the book introduce the historic role of the U.S. in Iraq and Iran.
ISBN: 9780439916257 | Scholastic Press
This book is the companion to Myer’s 1988 VietNam war story, Fallen Angels, which won the 1989 Coretta Scott King Award. The author draws interesting parallels.