Vietnam #5: Walking Wounded (5) - Hardcover

Lynch, Chris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 054564013X ISBN 13: 9780545640138

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2014

Synopsis

"The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range." -- Kirkus Reviews

Morris, Rudi, Ivan, and Beck were best friends. So when one of them was drafted into the Vietnam War, the others signed up, too. They promised to watch out for one another. They pledged to come home together.Now, that pledge has been broken. One of the four has been killed in action. And the remaining three are the only men alive who know the awful truth about their friend's death.Each is left to deal with their secret in his own way. One of them will accompany his friend's body home to Boston. One of them will defy orders in an act of protest. And one of them will decide it's up to him to single-handedly win the war.In the end, Vietnam may claim more than their lives. As the war grinds on, their very souls are at stake. And their shattered friendship will prove either their salvation... or their ruin.

About this title

About the Author

Chris Lynch is the author of numerous acclaimed books for middle-grade and teen readers, including the Vietnam and World War II series and the National Book Award finalist Inexcusable. He teaches in the Lesley University creative writing MFA program, and divides his time between Massachusetts and Scotland.

Reviews

Gr 5 Up—Four best friends all sign up to fight during the Vietnam War. Though they promise to come home together, one friend doesn't survive and the remaining three must grapple with the truth about his death. The narrative switches among the various first person perspectives—even that of Rudi's ghost. A haunting and unsettling series that tempers the violent aspects of war just enough for the audience, without sacrificing the bitter and heartbreaking emotional truths.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From VIETNAM #5:It has to stop somewhere.It looks like it's just gonna go on and on and on, but that would be such a nightmare, it's the kind of nightmare that nightmares have nightmares about. It has to stop somewhere. Somebody's got to do something.This war, or some version of it, seems to have been going on for centuries. Nobody has had any success in ending it over all that time, and I see no indication that anybody is going to manage any different any time soon.Somebody's got to.So it looks like it's up to me. If nobody else is going to do what needs to be done, then I will.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 054564013X
• ISBN 13: 9780545640138
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208