[LM_NET] HIT: Alternatives to Fallen Angels

["Bzdusek, Shiloh" <shiloh.bzdusek@D300.ORG>]

Thanks so much for all the Fallen Angels responses. Many have asked why my 
principal wants it removed. He is very conservative and has a problem with the 
language. I am pretty certain he did not read the book in its entirety because he 
only took it home for a night. He also said he would not even allow it in a high 
school if he was a high school principal????
If there are any more questions that I did not answer feel free to email me.
Many people proposed the same titles so if you do not see your exact response it is 
because I only put one in the hit for each book suggested.
Thanks again!!

I just reviewed a great new title called, Cracker, for SLJ, about the training of 
dogs to sniff bombs in Vietnam. It's got enough plot to make it engaging and facts 
enough to show what was happening over there.
Here's my copy of the review:

KADOHATA, Cynthia. Cracker! : The Best Dog in Vietnam. 309p. CIP. S&S/Atheneum. 
2007. Tr $16.99. ISBN 1-4169-0637-1. LC 2006022022.
Gr 5-9 - Bred as a show dog, Magnificent Dawn of Venus von Braun was a German 
Shepherd destined for greatness until a broken leg took her out of contention and 
into the arms of a young boy named Willie. Reminded of the landlord’s no pet 
policy, the heartbroken boy answers a newspaper ad and Venus, now “Cracker,” is 
accepted into a military canine unit to help soldiers sniff out booby traps in 
Vietnam. Assigned to handler, Rick Hanski, the pair quickly bond and head to the 
war’s front lines. Cracker and Rick’s successful missions lead to more dangerous 
operations and they are ultimately separated during a seige. Critically wounded, 
Rick is sent home, not knowing what has become of Cracker and it is a 
heartwrenching wait for word on her whereabouts. Kadohata bucks literary convention 
by shifting point-of-view from Willie, to Cracker and Rick. While Cracker’s 
thoughts and feelings supply the crucial visceral elements associated with her job 
and her relationship to Willie and Rick, she competes with Rick for top billing as 
main character. Willie is the story’s casualty, as he realizes beloved pet now 
belongs to Rick. Reader empathy aside, the story is filled with action and 
accurately recreates the experience of the military canine program, from aspects of 
training to the battlefield and is likely to spark middle-age reader interest in 
this little known area of military history. Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, 
NY.

Dean Hughes has a thought-provoking book called Search and Destroy. It contains 
none of the foul language of Fallen Angels. I love the book, btw - but it's a tough 
read in more ways than language. There are some
description of gory battle.

The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty, United States Marine Corps by Ellen Emerson 
White.
An eighteen-year-old Marine records in his journal his experiences in Vietnam 
during the siege of Khe Sanh, 1967-1968. Includes a history of Vietnam, war 
timeline, glossary, and related military information.

How about Amaryllis by Craig Crist-Evans?         Jimmy and his older brother Frank 
share a love of surfing and their problems with a drunken father, until Frank turns 
eighteen and goes to Vietnam.
(Although if he removed it because of the
language, there are 2 f-yous and a bullsh*t in it.  It was very moving.)


How about Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, or is that too old.  It might work 
as it is the real thing.
A series of stories about the Vietnam experience, based on the author's 
recollections. O'Brien begins by sharing the talismans and treasures his select 
small band of young soldiers carry into battle. The tales, ranging from a paragraph 
to 20 or so pages, reveal one truth after another. Sometimes the author tells the 
same story from different points of view, revealing the lingering, sometimes 
consuming, effect war leaves on the soul. In the end, readers are left with a 
mental and emotional sphere of mirrors, each reflecting a speck of truth about the 
things men carry into and out of war. -- Barbara Hawkins, West Potomac High, 
Fairfax County, Virginia


Dear America:
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?:
The Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty, Boston, Massachusetts, 1968
In this comparison diary to The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty, Patrick’s 
little sister, Molly, brings the tumult of the American homefront to life. She 
witnesses war protests, fights racial prejudice, and even volunteers in a 
veteran’s hospital in this poignant diary that captures the spirit of a 
conflicted girl, scared both for her brother and for her country.



Shiloh Bzdusek MLIS
CUSD 300
Library Director/Media Specialist/Computer Teacher
Westfield Community School K-8
Lincoln Prairie Elementary K-5
shiloh.bzdusek@d300.org
"What a school thinks about its library, is a measure of what it thinks
about education."
Harold Howe, former U.S. Commissioner of Education

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