Sunrise Over Fallujah
Robin Perry is the nephew of Richie Perry, the main character in Fallen Angels (Scholastic, 1988) who fought in the Vietnam War. Now more than 30 years later, Robin has enlisted in the service and has been sent to Iraq. Readers follow him through the first few months of the war, a time when most Americans still believed that it would be over in a few months. Robin has been assigned to a Civil Affairs unit which serves as a liaison between the military and the civilians. Initially, he is very optimistic about his duties, but when he sees they can't really take away the grief, fear, and anger the Iraqi people live with on a daily basis, he begins to take a more realistic view of his role, something that soon extends to American military in general. As with Fallen Angels, Myers is at his best at depicting the developing relationships, both good and bad, among the young soldiers in the same unit. He also is good at depicting the sheer terror and confusion the young soldiers feel most of the time in a battle where it's not clear who the enemy is. Robin's letters home put an upbeat spin on everything that's going on, eerily echoing the official reports that were coming from the field in a time when soldiers were among the first to recognize that they were be in Iraq for a long time. ©2008 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 13 and older
Age Range:
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
21st Century
Correspondence/Letters
Historical Fiction
Iraqis and Iraqi Americans
Soldiers/Military
War
Diversity subjects:
Arab
Asian
Black/African
Middle East
Publisher:
Scholastic Press
Publish Year: 2008
Pages: 290
ISBN: 9780439916240
CCBC Location: Fiction, Myers