This tense and thought-provoking World War II story, from the acclaimed author of Missing in Action and Search and Destroy, examines what it truly means to be a hero.
Spencer Morgan and Dieter Hedrick are on opposite sides of the war, but they’re fighting for the same things: honor and respect.
At the age of fifteen, Dieter’s blind devotion gets him promoted from Hitler Youth into the German army. Dieter is determined to prove his allegiance and bravery all costs.
Spence, just sixteen, drops out of his Utah high school to begin training as a paratrooper. He’s seen how boys who weren’t much in high school can come home heroes, and Spence wants to prove to his friends and family that he really can be something.
Both Spence and Dieter fear the war will end too soon—that they won’t get the chance to prove themselves. But when they finally see the action they were hoping for, it’s like nothing they ever could have imagined.
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Dean Hughes is the author of more than eighty books for young readers, including the popular sports series Angel Park All-Stars, the Scrappers series, the Nutty series, the widely acclaimed companion novels Family Pose and Team Picture, Search and Destroy, and Four-Four-Two. His novel Soldier Boys was selected for the 2001 New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list. Dean Hughes and his wife, Kathleen, have three children and nine grandchildren. They live in Midway, Utah.
Gr 7-9-Parallel stories follow teenagers Spence Morgan, a farm boy from Utah, and Dieter Hedrick, a farm boy from Bavaria. Stirred by complex feelings of patriotism and adolescent insecurities, both young men find themselves fighting for their respective countries in World War II. The first part of the story follows Spence from his small-town life to the rigors of basic training as a paratrooper; Dieter has left his family in order to supervise other Hitler youth, digging trenches on the German border. Then suddenly, both teens are thrust into the chaos and carnage of the Battle of the Bulge. Dieter has his eyes opened somewhat by a disillusioned and embittered corporal in his unit. Spence learns of war's truths when his best friend dies. The novel comes alive in these final chapters, capturing the soldiers' struggles to stay warm and to overcome their fear, and the battle scenes place readers in the center of the action. Hughes doesn't flinch from describing the devastating effect of a bullet. Soldier Boys rises above the clich‚s of standard World War II stories and serves as a reminder that wars are often fought by young people like those we see every day in our libraries.
Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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