Myers, Walter Dean.
SUNRISE OVER FALLUJAH
New York : Scholastic, 2008
IL YA
ISBN 0439916240

(2 booktalks)

It’s 2003, and Harlem teen Robin Perry has graduated from high school. Although his father wants him to go to college, he makes his first major adult decision and decides to join the military. His life quickly becomes a blur of activity as he is introduced to his unit – a Civil Affairs detail – and before he knows it, he is in the thick of the war in Iraq. The soldiers in his unit quickly become tight; they stick together and watch each other’s backs like brothers and sisters. All the while they struggle with their mission to interact and make peace with the people of the war-torn but beautiful land of Iraq – the very same people they are fighting. Through tragedy and triumph, they simply try to survive a war that just doesn’t seem to make sense.  (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards Program, 2009-2010)

Booktalk #2

“I felt like crap after 9-11 and I wanted to do something, to stand up for this country.” Against his parents’ wishes, Robin “Birdy” Johnson enlists in the Army after the terrorist attacks in New York City. By 2003, Birdy has finished Basic Training and is deployed to Iraq. He gets assigned to a Civil Affairs detachment. This group is working towards building a successful democracy in Iraq, and most of their job consists of interacting with Iraqi civilians. As Birdy travels through the war zone with his squad, he develops close friendships with them and learns their life stories. Birdy experiences the horrors of war first-hand as his squad is ambushed and attacked by Iraqi soldiers. However, they also see innocent Iraqi citizens killed, and Birdy begins to question his participation in war. He is scared that he will not survive, and his squad members are the only people that Birdy can rely on. Read Sunrise Over Fallujah to learn what true heroes are, and to find out if Birdy and his squad live through their year-long deployment!
Prepared by: Joy Brady for South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees, 2010-2011