Effects+of+War+on+Identity

The books on this book list represent the theme of war and how it affects individuals. Throughout this unit, students have read //The Book Thief// and have seen how characters who were in the Nazi party were affected by the war. The war changed every character in this book. The books in the book list also show characters who experience war and are changed by it. Students will read a novel from this list and see how war can affect individuals and change their lives. Annotated Book List Beah, Ishmael. //A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier//. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2008. Child soldiers are common place in conflicts all around. This is a firsthand account of Ishmael Beah’s life as a child soldier. He was handed a gun and sent into killing fields at just 13 years old. Beah tells all in this memoir about his life and how he survived. Annotation information retrieved from Barnesandnoble.com

Card, Orson Scott. //Ender’s Game//. New York: Tor, 1991. Print. Ender Wiggin is taken to battle school at 6 years old. The world government hopes that he is the one who can save the world from the alien buggers. He demonstrates great intelligence and skill and is quickly promoted through battle school. However, his great skill and quick promotions leave him isolated and alone. Can he defeat the buggers when he feels so alone and is constantly being pushed to his limits by the battle school? Annotation information retrieved from Barnesandnoble.com

Cormier, Robert. //Heroes//. New York: Puffin Books, 1998. Print 18 year old Francis returns home from World War 2 with a disfigured face. He goes back to his hometown with the mission of revenge on a childhood “friend.” In returning home, Francis must face his past mistakes and how the war has changed him. Annotation information retrieved from Barnesandnoble.com

Doller, Trish. //Something Like Normal//. New York: Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers, 2012. Print. When Travis returns home from a tour in Afghanistan, he does not receive a welcoming homecoming: his parents are splitting up, his brother stole his girlfriend, and he cannot stop thinking about his best friend’s death. He forms a relationship with a girl from high school and things do not seem as bad. He still needs to deal with his family problems and post-traumatic stress disorder and hope that he can live normally again. Annotation information retrieved from Barnesandnoble.com

Eck, Matthew. //The Farther Shore//. Minnesota: Milkweed Editions, 2007. Print. A small group of soldiers in the U.S. Army get separated from the command and left for dead. They are left in hostile, dangerous territory and must keep moving to stay alive. They encounter many violent situations in which they lose more men. These soldiers need to learn to survive in hostility without their unit and command. Annotation information retrieved from Barnesandnoble.com

Hughes, Dean. //Soldier Boys//. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001. Print. This novel follows Spencer and Dieter, one American and one German soldier during World War II. Both want to honor their countries and gain honor for themselves. Both boys realize that war is much more than they expected when they are tossed into battle. They have to make hard decisions during the battle and Dieter has to decide whether the cause he is fighting for is just. Annotation information retrieved from Barnesandnoble.com

Morpurgo, Michael. //Private Peaceful//. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2003. Print. The Peaceful brothers have had a hard life and World War 1 is threatening to break up more of their family and make it harder. The brothers, Charlie and Thomas, decide to enlist in the service. Charlie wants to keep the family together and Thomas wants to face his fears. They are unprepared for the dangers that they face in the front lines of battle and begin to wonder what the point of being there really was. Charlie joined the service to keep the family together but he and his brother may never see their families again. Annotation information retrieved from Barnesandnoble.com

Picoult, Jodi. //The Storyteller.// New York: Emily Bestler Books/ Atria, 2013. Print. Sage Singer is a lonely baker who befriends an elderly man, Josef Weber, who is well liked in her community. One day he asks her if she will kill him, which she refuses. He confesses to her that he was a Nazi SS guard. Sage’s grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. Sage has to battle her feelings about who Josef used to be and who he is now and decide if anyone can ever be redeemed from such terrible actions. Annotation information retrieved from http://jodipicoult.com/the-storyteller.html

Powers, Kevin. //The Yellow Birds//. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2012. Print. Two soldiers befriend each other in basic training and the elder of the two promises to bring the younger one safely home from the war. They are sent to Al Tafar, Iraq where they do what they can to protect each other. The boys take part in the brutal, bloody battles and have to learn how to deal with the violence while still remaining sane. Annotation information retrieved from Barnesandnoble.com

Wulffson, Don. //Soldier X.// New York: Viking, 2001. Print. Erik Brandt is drafted into Hitler’s army in 1944. He is sent to the killing fields and is forced to kill in order to survive. Erik is surrounded by killing and horrific sights. After getting seriously injured, Erik comes up with another way to survive. Annotation information from back cover of the novel.