Reedy, Trent.
DIVIDED WE FALL
New York : Arthur A. Levine Books, 2014
IL YA
ISBN 0545543673

“United we stand, divided we fall.” So goes the expression telling of the importance of working together as a team or as a nation. High school senior Danny Wright believes in this motto and joins the National Guard to serve his country much like his father before him. When his unit is called to Boise to help with crowd control at an out-of-control protest, Danny could not have known that a bullet, accidentally shot from his rifle, could set off a chain of events that would threaten to bring down the Unites States of America.

Many of the protesters were kids his age exercising their right to speak out at the state capitol. The men in Danny’s unit have a variety of opinions about the protesters and their rights. His unit leader wants them ready to fire. Danny’s gun misfires followed by a succession of guns firing from both the National Guard and from the crowd. In the end, twelve citizens are dead. The Governor of Idaho wants to protect identity of the soldiers, but the President of the United States demands they be prosecuted.

Danny returns to school where none of his friends, including his girlfriend, know he was involved in the shooting. People become divided on how they feel about the Governor and his actions. When the President orders troops to move into Idaho to arrest the soldiers, a civil war begins which threatens the unity of the United States.  (JoAnn Olsson, Teacher-Librarian

Liberty High School, Renton, WA, Washington Evergreen Book Award, 2017)