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Binding: Mass Market PaperbackEAN: 9780440228387 ISBN: 0440228387 Label: Laurel Leaf Manufacturer: Laurel Leaf Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 128 Publication Date: September 12, 2000 Publisher: Laurel Leaf Reading Level: Ages 9-12 Release Date: September 12, 2000 Studio: Laurel Leaf Editorial Review: Amazon.com 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 Product Description: In June 1861, when the Civil War began, Charley Goddard enlisted in the First Minnesota Volunteers. He was 15. He didn't know what a "shooting war" meant or what he was fighting for. But he didn't want to miss out on a great adventure. The "shooting war" turned out to be the horror of combat and the wild luck of survival; how it feels to cross a field toward the enemy, waiting for fire. When he entered the service he was a boy. When he came back he was different; he was only 19, but he was a man with "soldier's heart," later known as "battle fatigue." Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Original and thoguth provoking As someone closely associated with the military, though not of it, I found Samet's observations of the military life, thought processes and customs fascinating. It is often difficult for those outside the life to distinguish between our society's idea of a soldier and individual soldiers themselves. We tend to believe that they are all cut of the same cloth -- proud, honorable, bloodthirsty, fighting men -- and tend to forget that the officer core includes poets, dreamers, and women as well. Read More Rating:  - hard to explainThis book is a true story and it says so in the authors note. This book is very sad, interesting, and violent. It is about a 16 year old boy who heard of a shooting war. His name was Charley. He wanted to enlist for the army but they said that you must be 18 to go and enlist for the army that would take place in the shooting war. Charley lies about his age and gets in without question. He gets training and fights in the army and in the battles he fought in he learns what it really is like to ... Read More Rating: - MFMS students' reviewAfter reading it in class, this is what the MFMS's 8th grade Language Arts thought of the book: "We liked the story because some parts of the story were really detailed and seems like you were actually there. Well, not really. It was easy to read because there was not so much hard words, which made it easier and better." --Colleen and Jessica. "I liked the story because it was extremely detailed with words to explain everything that happened. The bigger words make it ... Read More Rating:  - A Teenager in the Civil WarIn 1861 Charley is fifteen years old, living on a farm in Minnesota with his mother and little brother. Everyone has heard the rumor that there is to be a war, with those in the North fighting to stop the Southern rebels from doing damage to the country. No one is quite sure if the war is really going to happen, but Charley is determined to be a part of it if it is. He convinces his mother that he can handle himself as a soldier and tells her the eleven dollars a month he'll be paid will ... Read More Rating: - Charley is a freak (i think)I definitely recommend this book to all readers. Gary Paulsen does a great job in showing how Charley feels that he will certainly die, and how he changes from a happy farmer to a man that will kill to stay alive. This was one of the greatest historical fiction books that I have ever read because of all the amazing events that actually took place. For example, Charley and another man use dead bodies to build a wall to stop a vicious wind. This book had a lot of surprises, like when Charley is hit and ... Read More |
