Summary
World War II has struck and the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Two boys from opposing countries joined for the same purpose. They didn’t join for revenge or for money; they joined to prove that they were something. Spencer Morgan had just turned 16 and dropped out of high school. He lied about his age to join the American army. He then began training to be a paratrooper because he heard that there were men who became great heroes with little education. Dieter Hedrick was 17 and the Scharfuhrer, leader of his troop. When Dieter was 10, he was in the Hitler Youth and all of the other boys were 14 years old. Although Dieter was too young, he was still a member of the Jungvolt- the “Young People.” The boys were scared, but they were not afraid of getting killed by a bullet or an explosion from a grenade. They were afraid that the war would end too early so they would not get to prove themselves. The point of this novel is that the test of manhood is to devote your self to a cause, not just kill the opposing army for no reason.
Review
This book is great depending on how you look at it. It is about devoting yourself to helping out a cause. It’s not just about killing the enemy whether it would be the Germans or the Americans because you want to. I like the fact that each chapter alternates between the boys’ stories so you can see the war from their vantage points. It is tragic that over 60 million people died during World War II. I didn’t like the fact that the book wasn’t about getting to Hitler. The book was all about supporting a cause, but it isn’t about lying about your age to get into the military against your father’s orders. I also didn’t like that when there is something important coming up in the chapter, it would cut off and go to the next chapter. I would highly recommend this book to people who like war novels and World War II, but not for the violence or the fact that Hitler is dead now. I would not recommend it if you like action packed books or books that are all about killing for no reason, or if you don’t like World War II.
World War II has struck and the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Two boys from opposing countries joined for the same purpose. They didn’t join for revenge or for money; they joined to prove that they were something. Spencer Morgan had just turned 16 and dropped out of high school. He lied about his age to join the American army. He then began training to be a paratrooper because he heard that there were men who became great heroes with little education. Dieter Hedrick was 17 and the Scharfuhrer, leader of his troop. When Dieter was 10, he was in the Hitler Youth and all of the other boys were 14 years old. Although Dieter was too young, he was still a member of the Jungvolt- the “Young People.” The boys were scared, but they were not afraid of getting killed by a bullet or an explosion from a grenade. They were afraid that the war would end too early so they would not get to prove themselves. The point of this novel is that the test of manhood is to devote your self to a cause, not just kill the opposing army for no reason.
Review
This book is great depending on how you look at it. It is about devoting yourself to helping out a cause. It’s not just about killing the enemy whether it would be the Germans or the Americans because you want to. I like the fact that each chapter alternates between the boys’ stories so you can see the war from their vantage points. It is tragic that over 60 million people died during World War II. I didn’t like the fact that the book wasn’t about getting to Hitler. The book was all about supporting a cause, but it isn’t about lying about your age to get into the military against your father’s orders. I also didn’t like that when there is something important coming up in the chapter, it would cut off and go to the next chapter. I would highly recommend this book to people who like war novels and World War II, but not for the violence or the fact that Hitler is dead now. I would not recommend it if you like action packed books or books that are all about killing for no reason, or if you don’t like World War II.
