February 15, 2012
In the second installment of his Vietnam War series, Lynch follows 18-year-old Ivan Bucyk, one of four friends who pledged to go to war together once one was drafted. Ivan was the one most excited about going. After all, his dad was in World War II, and Ivan grew up on stories of Patton and North Africa. Trained as an elite sniper, Ivan is special, but, predictably, his experience in Vietnam doesn't match the stories of heroism he grew up on. Here, it's not clear who the enemy is. He had figured this war would be like the American Civil War, with a clear North and South, but in Vietnam the enemy is all around and impossible to identify. Ivan has quickly come to realize he was a stupid kid when he arrived; now, with a war he can't explain, he lives for a simple purpose: "I shoot people. That's it." And DERUS--"Date Eligible for Return to US"--has become his religion. Since this volume repeats the opening of the first (I Pledge Allegiance, 2011), it easily stands alone, but the series gains richness from the multiple narratives, boding well for the overall story when all four characters have had their say. The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range. (Fiction. 9-13)
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June 1, 2012
Gr 7 Up-Lynch deftly explores the impact of the Vietnam War on the youth who fought it. Each book in this series is narrated by one of four friends, so readers will understand how war has profoundly changed each one. This installment features Ivan Bucyk. The son of a proud World War II veteran, he is excited to enlist in the Army, while his three closest friends are frightened and unsure of going to war (Ivan talks one of them out of fleeing to Canada when he's drafted). The teen thinks he is prepared to fight for his country, but he isn't prepared for the jungle's suffocating heat, the gruesome images of dead Vietnamese, the discipline of sniper training, or the harsh realities of losing fellow soldiers. Despite the friends' pledge to stay connected, Ivan closes himself off to their letters and other communication. War changes a man, and now Ivan wants nothing more than to go home. The depictions of the conditions of living and fighting in Vietnam offer readers insight into what made this particular war so different from its predecessors. A good choice for those seeking to understand the emotional complexities of war.-Kimberly Garnick Giarratano, Northampton Community College, Hawley, PA
Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 1, 2012
Grades 8-11 In this, the second installment in the Vietnam series, Ivan, who has always wanted to fight for his country, becomes a United States Army sharpshooter. His mission is to stop the shipment of armaments from the north to the south, which is a frustratingly impossible undertaking. On both the front lines and behind enemy lines, Lynch brilliantly captures the war in small details, from Ivan's reaction to firing his precision rifle to the chaos and graphic violence of a jungle ambush at night. An excellent addition to a solid historical fiction series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2012
This is the second book in Lynch's series about how the Vietnam War affects four friends. Here Ivan, the only one excited about serving, joins the army and is trained as a sharpshooter. Emotions surge as he comes to terms with the harsh realities of war. The characters are flat, but this book gives an honest account of wartime military service.
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)