Military & Wars Books

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 390 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very Creative!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

There are plenty of reviews telling the story line so I won't bore anyone with more. I just want to say how creative a writer Zusak is. This is the first story I've read narrated by death and I couldn't put it down. It was like reading an abstract story with the lives of people during World War II woven so beautifully together. Amazing! Different! And I have to agree with others on the fact that it doesn't read like a junior book. Don't give up on this book, you'll be glad you didn't.

Editorial Review:

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.


From the Hardcover edition.

My Brother Sam Is Dead (Apple Signature)

James Lincoln Collier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 331 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

revolutionary greatness 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

It is a very interesting book. It talks about a boy named Tim who has trouble deciding if he was a tory or patriot.His brother goes to war as apatriot and leaves his family in danger by taking the brown bess from them. Tim hasn't experienced war yet, but he knows that his family are tories.His family makes there annual trip to verplanks point. He betrays his father to help Mr.Heron to deliever a letter. He meets cowboys who hate Tories. THey almost get killed. on the way back his father gets ambushed and gets set on a British prison ship and dies of chorela.War haa finally come to Redding ,Tim's home town. The British take the Rebel leaders and kill them.Later a execution is held at Redding. they were going to kill Sam.

Editorial Review:

All his life, Tim Meeker has looked up to his brother Sam. Sam's smart and brave -- and is now a part of the American Revolution. Not everyone in town wants to be a part of the rebellion. Most are supporters of the British -- including Tim and Sam's father. With the war soon raging, Tim know he'll have to make a choice -- between the Revolutionaries and the Redcoats . . . and between his brother and his father.

Fallen Angels

Walter Dean Myers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 286 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The awful truth 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

"Get Down!!!" is the cry that rings through Perry's ears as a napalm bomb bursts near by sending a wave of roaring heat all around him. Fallen Angels is a sensational tale about Richie Perry's time in Southern Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Richie leaves his hometown to join the war because he figures it will be much better than his grim life style in the slums of New York City. When he reaches Nam and begins his patrols he finds that his home back in NYC is wondrous compared to the firefights and ambushes of Nam.
I would recommend Fallen Angels for ages 14-17 and for those who like the Jeff Shaara books. Shaara and Myers use not only the same genre, but the same writing style, only Walter Dean Myers is for a younger group of readers.

Editorial Review:

A coming of age tale for young adults set in the trenches of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, Fallen Angels is the story of Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the service when his dream of attending college falls through. Sent to the front lines, Perry and his platoon come face-to-face with the Vietcong and the real horror of warfare. But violence and death aren't the only hardships. As Perry struggles to find virtue in himself and his comrades, he questions why black troops are given the most dangerous assignments, and why the U.S. is there at all. Fallen Angels won the 1989 Coretta Scott King Award.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (PMC) (Puffin Modern Classics)

Eleanor Coerr

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 179 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A story with simplistic compassion about a little girl whose illness made her a hero 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

For many years after the nuclear weapons that ended World War II were exploded over Japan, the radiation effects lingered to cause sickness and death. Sadako is a young girl who was an infant resident in Hiroshima when the explosion took place. She is a lively girl and a star on her school's track team.
Suddenly in 1954, she is struck by feelings of extreme weakness and is diagnosed with leukemia. This was before there were effective treatments against the disease and she goes into the hospital where the disease progresses rapidly and she dies.
She is taught how to make paper cranes, because according to the legend, she will recover if she makes 1,000 of them. Unfortunately, her illness strikes her so fast that she lacks the strength to complete the task. After her death, a peace memorial is made where people place thousands of paper cranes each year. There is a section at the end describing how to fold paper to make the cranes.
Based on a true story, this book has a simplistic compassion about the consequences of nuclear weapons. They kill people quickly and they kill them slowly and this reality must be considered when decisions are made regarding their role in the world.

Editorial Review:

Born in Hiroshima in 1943, Sadako was the star of her school’s running team, until the dizzy spells started and she was forced to face the hardest race of her life—the race against time.

Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two

Joseph Bruchac

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Terrific book 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Bruchac has created a terrific historic novel that has enough action for young male adults and enough history and research to appeal to an adult audience. Bruchac does a wonderful job of giving a sense of the complexities of growing up on a Navajo reservation in the first half of the book. The irony of a nation trying to wipe out the Navajo language but using it as a crucial means of communication during 20th century wars should not be lost on the reader while reading the second half of the book. Bruchac's narrator tells this tale in an even-keeled, even-tempered manner. The reader is allowed to gain his own sense of injustice our nation has inflicted upon its Native American population. Bruchac's description of the progression of America's involvement in World War II's Pacific campaign is well laid-out and dramatically presented. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

The United States is at war, and sixteen-year-old Ned Begay wants to join the cause—especially when he hears that Navajos are being specifically recruited by the Marine Corps. So he claims he's old enough to enlist, breezes his way through boot camp, and suddenly finds himself involved in a top-secret task, one that's exclusively performed by Navajos. He has become a code talker. Now Ned must brave some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with his native Navajo language as code, send crucial messages back and forth to aid in the conflict against Japan. His experiences in the Pacific—from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima and beyond—will leave him forever changed.

The Wall (Reading Rainbow Books)

Eve Bunting

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Wall by Tanashia C. 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Wall
by Eve Bunting
Illustrated by Ronald Himler

You should read this book because it's great and it's about someone you will remember and someone you love! The main Characters are the Dad, son, and an old man from war, and grandpa. Dad and his son are trying to find grandpa's name on the wall. The wall is in Washington D.C. They can't find their grandpa's name even though they keep looking up and down.
Dad and his son find grandpa's name! what do you think his name is? The book tells you a note and tells you where the wall is and it is in Washington D.C. it also tells you why the wall was made.
By reading this book you can learn to Keep doing your best, keep looking for what you want, and don't give up. Keep looking for what you love too! What do you love to find that you love so much? What I love to find is my family and my things I love. So if you love to find your family then read this book!!!!!!!!!!


By Tanashia C

Editorial Review:

A young boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Pink and Say

Patricia Polacco

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Pink and Say is a Winner 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is a combination winner - the text and the illustrations are excellent. The "hand" metaphor resonates clearly - and Polacco has immortalized Pinkus Ailey with her moving story.

Pink and Say 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Triston Corriveau 3-13-07
Writing Book Review

The book Pink and Say is a bout tow boys that go to war .It takes place in the south during the civil war. Say got shot in the leg pink carried him to his moms house. She took care of him. They had to hide because the other soldier where coming to find them. Pinks mom got shot by the other soldiers that where looking for Pink and Say. A man from the war comes to tell them they have to go back. They go back in their uniforms and they are soldiers again.
I thought Pink and Say was a good book. It made me feel like what they felt like. It made me think of my uncle because he going to college for the Air Force. And I want to be in the Air Force.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Sook Nyul Choi

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Book Review on The Year of Impossible 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

The Year of Impossible Goodbyes is written by Sook Nyul Choi. The book is 169 pages in length. It is about a girl named Sookan who lives in Korea during World War II. At this time, Korea is under control of the Japanese. Sookan and her family are being suppressed by the Japanese. Sookan's mother is a supervisor at a sock factory. But, the workers at the sock factory were sent away to the war, forcing Sookan's mother to close down the factory. Then, Sookan is sent to a Japanese school, where she learns about Japan and nothing else. But soon after, the war ends! Freedom at last! Sookan and her family rejoice! But neither the rest of their family nor the sock girls have returned. Sookan is worried. Also, to make things worse, Russia took over North Korea, and they again are suppressed. But, after a couple of attempts, she and her family make it to liberated South Korea!
Sookan is kind, loving, compassionate, smart child. She takes care of others and has an unbroken spirit. She is resolute and determined.
Sookan faces many conflicts throughout this book. First, she hates her enemies, the Japanese, who have been occupying her country for many years. She is taught not to hate; yet she is unable to suppress these feelings. Sookan knows that if she spoke what is on her mind, her whole family could be executed. Luckily, she is mature enough to realize this and keeps her emotions to herself.
Another of Sookan's conflicts is her attempt to escape from northern Korea. She gets separated from her mother at the passport checkpoint and is left with caring for her younger brother. Sookan is ten years old and has neither currency nor provisions. She is by herself. Escaping is very risky and life hostile. Sookan and her brother stay alive on their own and make it to South Korea; where they are reunited with their family.
Finally, the Japanese occupying Korea is another conflict Sookan has to face. The Japanese suppress Sookan's family, forcing them to do Japan's bidding. The Japanese police take their belongings to help in the war effort and force Sookan's mother to supervise a sock factory. Sookan's patience helped her wait out the war.
The author uses the reoccurring theme of determination in her novel. An example of this theme is when Sookan gets divided from her mother at the identification checkpoint and is left with caring for her youthful sibling. Sookan is ten years old and has no money or food. She is on her own. Escaping is very dangerous and life threatening. Sookan and her brother manage to survive on their own and finally reach South Korea, where they are reunited with her family. This shows determination because she is only ten in an unknown world. She has no money and has to take care of her younger brother.
Another example of the determination theme occurs at the beginning of the story. The Japanese suppress Sookan's family, forcing them to do Japan's bidding. In fact, the Japanese police take their belongings to help in the war effort and force Sookan's mother to supervise a sock factory. Still, Sookan's patience helped her wait out the war. This shows determination because she does not give up her life and try to run away, but is patient.
The style of novel is very unique. Author Sook Choi writes in first person view and adds very smooth sentences. Most of her sentences are like this,"Listening to this boy was as refreshing as diving into a cool stream". In this sentence she uses many descriptive words and there was no comma to slow it down. Choi's sentences are both short and long. Many authors use only one kind of sentence. This is what makes this novel and author unique.
The plot, characters, theme, and style are all good, which makes this book really fun to read. It's filled with adventures and many other thrilling topics. This book is great for most ages. I recommend this book to whoever loves adventure!

Editorial Review:

It is 1945, and courageous ten-year-old Sookan and her family must endure the cruelties of the Japanese military occupying Korea.  Police captain Narita does his best to destroy everything of value to the family, but he cannot break their spirit.  Sookan's father is with the resistance movement in Manchuria and her older brothers have been sent away to labor camps.  Her mother is forced to supervise a sock factory and Sookan herself must wear a uniform and attend a Japanese school.



Then the war ends.  Out come the colorful Korean silks and bags of white rice.  But Communist Russian troops have taken control of North Korea and once again the family is suppressed.  Sookan and her family know their only hope for freedom lies in a dangerous escape to Americancontrolled South Korea.



Here is the incredible story of one family's love for each other and their determination to risk everything to find freedom.

Soldier's Heart : Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

Gary Paulsen

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Total reviews: 165 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In spare, almost biblical prose, Gary Paulsen writes of the horrors of combat in a Civil War novella that puts a powerful, more contemporary spin on Stephen Crane's classic The Red Badge of Courage. Based on the life of a real boy, it tells the story of Charley Goddard, who lies his way into the Union Army at the age of 15. Charley has never been anyplace beyond Winona, Minnesota, and thinks war would be a great adventure. And it is--at first--as his regiment marches off through cheering crowds and pretty, flag-waving girls. But then comes the battle. Charley screams, "Make it stop now!" disbelieving that anything so horrible could be real. Paulsen is unsparing in the details of what actually happens on the battlefield: the living men suddenly blown into pieces, the agony and fear, the noise and terror, the stinking corpses. After many battles, Charley is wounded and sent home an old man before he is 20, his will to live destroyed by combat fatigue--leaving him with a "soldier's heart." Paulsen has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the ALAN Award, and several Newbery Honor awards for previous work, but this superb, small masterpiece transcends any of his earlier titles in its remarkable, memorable intensity and power. (Ages 12 to 15) --Patty Campbell

Sunrise Over Fallujah

Walter Dean Myers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Operation Iraqi Freedom, that's the code name. But the young men and women in the military's Civil Affairs Battalion have a simpler name for it: WAR.

In this new novel, Walter Dean Myers looks at a contemporary war with the same power and searing insight he brought to the Vietnam war of his classic, FALLEN ANGELS. He creates memorable characters like the book's narrator, Birdy, a young recruit from Harlem who's questioning why he even enlisted; Marla, a blond, tough-talking, wisecracking gunner; Jonesy, a guitar-playing bluesman who just wants to make it back to Georgia and open a club;

and a whole unit of other young men and women and drops them incountry in Iraq, where they are supposed to help secure and stabilize Iraq and successfully interact with the Iraqi people. The young civil affairs soldiers soon find their definition of "winning" ever more elusive and their good intentions being replaced by terms like "survival" and "despair."

Caught in the crossfire, Myers' richly rendered characters are just beginning to understand the meaning of war in this powerful, realistic novel of our times.