Set on the front lines of the Normandy invasion, this novel, rendered with heart-in-the-throat precision, is a cinematic masterpiece. When Josiah and Marcus come together in what will be the greatest test of their lives, they learn hard lessons about race, friendship, and what it really means to fight. In small towns and big cities all over the globe, people are filled with fear. World War II is ramping up, and so are these young recruits, ready and eager. Their whole lives are ahead of them, yet at the same time, death's whisper is everywhere.One white, one black, these young men have nothing in common and everything in common as they approach an experience that will change them forever.It's May 1944. And this was the Good War.įrom the November/December 2013 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.Walter Dean Myers brilliantly renders the realities of World War II.Josiah Wedgewood and Marcus Perry are on their way to an uncertain future.
Marcus, a black soldier, faces grave danger driving a truck but doesn’t participate in direct combat (although the book jacket art seems to belie this fact) in 1944, troops were segregated and menial jobs frequently relegated to black soldiers. 5/08) and Richard Perry’s uncle in Fallen Angels (rev. Woody, who is white, volunteered with hometown acquaintance (and important wartime friend) Marcus Perry, Robin Perry’s grandfather in Sunrise over Fallujah (rev. These Myers delivers, along with his themes, subtly through Woody’s matter-of-fact observations as his ragged battalion fights its way through Normandy. But there’s also a sense of the times, such as the naive feelings Woody has for a girl back home or the racist and xenophobic attitudes among his fellow soldiers in the 29th Infantry Division. The brutal battle scenes and wartime musings are vividly told. Move away from the terrible bullets.” Facing terror, Woody questions what he’s doing, makes desperate pleas to God, and worries about when and where to go to the bathroom. As his body bends forward, I see the bullets rip into his bowed back. Suddenly he falls to his knees and clutches his belly. But when he lands on the beach in France, the reality of battle hits him. When Josiah “Woody” Wedgewood enlists in the army, he is immediately sent to England to prepare for the Normandy invasion, harboring only vague ideas about the nature of war.
Middle School, High School Scholastic 218 pp.
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