  | Grenade Author: Gratz, Alan | |
| Price: $22.58 | ||
Summary:
On April 1, 1945 with the battle of Okinawa beginning, fourteen-year-old native Okinawan Hideki, drafted into the Blood and Iron Student Corps, is handed two grenades and told to go kill American soldiers; small for his age Hideki does not really want to kill anyone, he just wants to find his family, and his struggle across the island will finally bring him face-to-face with Ray, a marine in his very first battle--and the choice he makes then will change his life forever.
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| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 5.20 Points: 7.0 Quiz: 197618 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 6-8 Reading Level: 4.60 Points: 11.0 Quiz: 75148 | |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (08/15/18)
School Library Journal (10/01/18)
The Hornbook (00/11/18)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 10/01/2018 Gr 5 Up—In 1945, as the U.S. army neared mainland Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army evacuated its elite troops from Okinawa and left behind a force meant to slow down the Americans in the bloodiest way possible. They recruited the native Okinawans into this army, including teens like Hideki, one of the two narrators of this gripping World War II novel. As Hideki takes his two grenades (one to kill U.S. soldiers and one to kill himself), he is fated to come across the other narrator, a young American soldier, Ray. Based on research and firsthand accounts the author heard while in Okinawa, history comes violently to life in this character-driven, fictionalized account. The battle details are accurate and the characters and the growing sense of the battle's futility are well drawn and poignant. There is some offensive contemporaneous language referring to Japanese people used within the narrative, which is explained in a note at the beginning and in greater detail in the detailed historical note at the end. While this is a chilling, realistic depiction of war, the violence is not glorified or graphically described. VERDICT An excellent World War II novel, best suited for mature readers who can handle the sensitive content and brutal realities of wartime.—Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK - Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
