dropixel

Ages 8+ Jamie is almost thirteen and she thinks she knows all there is to know, especially about the Army. She was born on an army base in Germany and spent her childhood engaging in mock battles along with her older brother TJ under the eye of her father, the Colonel. Jamie is quick to tell anyone that she would go to Vietnam and heroically fight in the war there if someone would just let her. But when TJ enlists after high school, she's surprised by the Colonel's lack of enthusiasm at her brother's choice to become a medic instead of attend college. As Jamie spends the summer working in the rec hall on the Texas base where she lives, what she learns about what's really happening in Vietnam - from the stories told to her by the soldiers on base and from the rolls of film her brother sends from overseas that she learns to develop - turns out to be much different from the valor and glory she'd always pictured. This quick read focuses on the effect that the Vietnam War has on Jamie’s small world rather than America's outlook on the war as a whole and will appeal to younger readers.

2022-12-14 19:42