I want it Wednesday

In today's spotlight is an old one from Walter Dean Myers. A teacher recommended this book to me.

Summary: Crystal Brown is en route to stardom as a black fashion model. The world of money, glamour, fame, and celebrities excites and disturbs her. Her career demands increasing time away from family, friends, school, and normal adolescent concerns. As a model, Crystal confronts a temperamental photographer, sexual pressures, and a demanding agent. While Crystal's mother vicariously craves her daughter's success, her father's pride is tempered with protectiveness. In the end, Crystal is shocked into a career decision by the suicide of a once marketable model friend. In Crystal, Myers has created a beautiful but believable teenage heroine who makes a stand for personal integrity in a competitive world.

A time for war...a time for peace....

There has been some controversy over Sunrise over Fallujah. Some say that this book is glorifying the war in Iraq and that there should be a book about the Iraqi view of the war. Okay, that’s fair. Maybe someone should write such a book, but they haven’t (as far as I know) and this book is about a young American man shipped overseas. As for glorifying the war, Mr. Meyers does none of that. Readers get a gritty realistic portrayal of war.

Robin aka “Birdy” as everyone calls him has been shipped overseas where confusion reigns supreme. Who are his enemies? What are they all doing there? How can they tell the enemy from a friend? As Jonesy one of the characters said, “Okay, let me straighten this mess out. If somebody who looks like an A-rab shoots you, the first thing you do is to pull out your Rules of Engagement card and see what the rules are for the day. Because it could be a Rodeney King day and we just all trying to get along and then you don’t shoot him.”

Mr. Myers gives the reader a realistic portrayal of this confusing war. Sprinkled throughout the book there is also humor, which lightens the mood. For instance Birdy said “Captain Miller, who curses better than anyone I had ever heard, said something wonderful about the lieutenant’s parents that I wish I had had the time to write down even though I don’t really believe that a human being could be conceived by sand crabs under a flack rock.

Sunrise over Fallujah is an excellent novel and I believed it approached the subject matter with dignity. The cast of characters are great and the reader is quickly drawn into this novel wondering what will happen next.

For students looking for a good war novel, and for those who want to see what life is like for our soldiers overseas I recommend this book.

My First Book Giveaway!

This is it! It is my first book giveaway. I'm excited (now watch no one wants the book!) I am giving away one copy of Sunrise over Fallujah. If you are interested in the book please send me an email at yabookmarks@gmail.com . The drawing will be held Sunday (Oct. 19th). In the future I hope to give away more books to my loyal readers. I think this is the perfect way of saying THANK YOU! Or, as I always say to my students GRAZIE!

This giveaway is for those within the United States. Maybe in the future I'll expand it.