Foster's War [Hardcover]

Carolyn Reeder (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

When his older brother joins the army during World War II in order to escape the rages of an authoritarian father, eleven-year-old Foster fights his battles on the homefront.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Foster Simmons, the 11-year-old protagonist of this ambitious historical novel, is shocked by America's entry into WWII, but he is used to war at home. While his father stops short of physical abuse, his rages and his impossibly high standards create so much friction that Foster's older brother enlisted even before Pearl Harbor, just to get away from their California home. Reeder (Moonshiner's Son) dexterously splices together Foster's views of the domestic battlefield with his experience of WWII, from his best friend's internment in a camp for Japanese Americans to scrap drives at school. Readers will come away with a clear grasp of the period, especially because Reeder, in describing the prejudice against Japanese Americans, unveils a bit of the dark side of the nation's patriotic fervor. The characterizations, however, are less well balanced. The children, particularly the insightful Foster, are portrayed with considerably more subtlety than the adults (e.g., countering Mr. Simmons's despotism, Mrs. Simmons shows almost saintly patience). When change comes, it is sudden and nearly total, with a tragedy inspiring an almost-overnight transformation of the Simmons into an affectionate unit. Although the tidy wrap-up undercuts the re-creation of authentic and complex family tensions, it will not dim the sharp impression of homefront America nor Foster's fresh observations of it. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7?Foster, 11, isn't sure whether it's the war with Japan he should fear more or the war in his own southern California household. To escape their father's psychological abuse, his older brother Mel has left school and enlisted in the Air Force. The three younger siblings have developed various coping strategies to escape their father's cruel and damaging behavior. The man expects perfection from his children and his wife, who attempts to placate him and be the peacemaker. Against this explosive backdrop, the family learns of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Now they must worry about possible Japanese air raids as well as Mel's safety. Foster finds himself coping with bewildering changes, including the loss of his best friend, a Japanese-American boy relocated to an internment camp. He and an understanding elderly neighbor become friends, and this relationship helps him through some difficult times. The period details are well presented: the importance of the radio, the homefront groups mobilizing the war effort, weekly reports in Life magazine. However, the father is a difficult character to appreciate. Like his children, readers are expected to overcome a thorough dislike of him too quickly. To understand his background does not help to forgive him his treatment of innocents. The long-suffering mother will also be difficult for young readers to accept, but her behavior and attitudes are true to the era. A flawed effort about World War II and the war effort at home.?Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.; 1st edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590098462
• ISBN-13: 978-0590098465
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,614,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foster's War Review -By Alex Neil-, October 16, 2003

By 

Alex Neil (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foster's War (Paperback)

Foster's War

Do you like World War II? Well if you do then you will enjoy Foster's War by Carolyn Reeder. Carolyn's first book was called Shades of Gray. It won the Scott O'Dell Award. She also wrote two other books called Grandpa's Mountain and Moonshiner's Son. I would give Foster's War a 5 out of 5.

Foster's War takes place in San Diego, California during World War II in 1941. In the beginning the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Foster's older brother, Mel, got sent to war. Foster later started getting into conflicts with his dad. Foster's best friend, Jimmy, who is Japanese, has to move away into a Japanese neighborhood. Later in the story the family gets news that Mel is missing in action. About a week later the family receives a telegram saying that Mel was killed in action on June 4. Finally, Foster and the rest of his family started to get along together. To end the story Foster's dad buy Foster and his brother Rick a fancy train set. There were several conflicts in the story. The main conflict was when Mel went to war the whole family was worried about him. The dad was mad about Mel going to war, because Mel didn't get his father's permission and he forged his father's permission. The other conflicts that weren't as important was when Foster's best friend Jimmy had to move away to a Japanese neighborhood and when the whole family didn't get along so well.

Here are a few main characters in the story. The main character is Foster. Foster is 11 years old. He loves his older brother Mel a lot. His best friend is a Japanese boy named Jimmy. He is an average kid like everybody else that's goes to his school. He is the founder of the Youth War Effort.
Another main character is Mr. Simmons. He is Foster's dad. He is always mean and angry. He works long hours at the aircraft factory. Everyday when he comes home he complains. He also gets angry with the family a lot. One last thing that he does is go around the neighborhood to make sure everybody's light are off when the have an air raid. The last main character that I'll mention is Mrs. Simmons. She is always nice to everybody. She tries really hard to keep the family together no matter what happens. She also helps around a lot.

The author shows the theme well. The theme of the story is, sometimes bad things have to happen in order to bring a family together. She shows this by having Mel go to war first. Then she shows the family getting into fights. When they got the news Mel was missing they got a little better. Then when they got the telegram about Mel was killed the family almost came together. Finally when the dad bought them the train set you can tell that they came together.

Foster's War was a great book. I would give it a 5 out of 5. You would enjoy this a lot if you like World War II. If you don't like World War II you will still enjoy it. For a grade level that I would say that like it is probably 6th to 8th grade. Ages 10 to 14. I think this book will be a classic and kids will continue to read it for a long time. The strengths of the book were the way the story was wrote it. The weakness of the book was the very little detail or not much action of World War II. She focused more on conflicts that happed at home. This book was almost like the book The Outsiders. In The Outsider, by S.E. Hinton, were two groups that hated each other by their looks and how they lived. One of the groups came from the Westside that were rich and had a lot of fancy things. The other group where from the Eastside that were poor and were nothing were like the rich group. Also in The Outsiders a bunch of people had to die to bring a family together. In conclusion, Foster's War is a must buy book.

(...)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book overall!, April 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Foster's War (Hardcover)

I laughed, I cried. What a wonderful book. Foster is set up to deal with many hardships for being such young child. He has his friends (or lack there of), his Father's cold and harsh attitude, and his brother Mel whose is sent off to fight in the war. By the end of the novel, all of these things change. And you end the book asking yourself, "Is change always for the better?".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Living Through the War, June 9, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Foster's War (Paperback)

Foster's War

Foster's War is a great book that shows how the Americans acted and lived during WWII. It is a fairly long book, but it isn't really long. This book can be a little confusing a times because some of the chapters don't relate at all to the one before or after it. But if you love WWII and are interested in it, I strongly recommend Foster's War by Carolyn Reeder.
The main character in this book is Foster, an eleven-year old boy living through WWII. Foster also faces some problems during the war, like his Japanese friend being taken to a camp and his father getting a little caught up in the war. Along with that his brother signs up to fight in a plane before the war and is called to fight after Pearl Harbor is bombed on December 7, 1942. His father becomes the air - raid warden for his neighborhood and is encouraging Foster's family to get involved in the war and discourage the Japanese. He even gets mad when Foster has his brother be the Japanese in a game of war. But during the war horrible things happen to his family; and to find out these things read Foster's War by Carolyn Reeder.
Foster is a normal kid who does normal things. Before the war started he would read comics, play a little chess and play with his best friend Jimmy. He didn't have any friends besides Jimmy, but that was okay with him. He was thought of as a weird kid and everyone made fun of him. But after a little joke he plays on a classmate that they took seriously, he became very popular and everyone wanted to be part of what he started.
My favorite part of Foster's War is when Foster makes his little brother be the Japanese in the game of war. It is my favorite part because his father gets very made at Foster when he finds out. He thinks it is a disgrace that Foster's little brother had to be the enemy Japanese. This part of the book shows just how much the average American disliked the Japanese during WWII.
Foster's War has many strengths and a couple of weaknesses. One of its strengths is it's well written and Foster is just like a normal kid, and all the trouble he gets into during the book could happen to anyone. Another strength is there is a variety of characters and they are all very different, so it is hard to confuse them once you've read about them. Foster's War also gives a different view of the war; a lot of books shows what happens the soldiers and how they fight. But this book shows what happens to the regular people and how they act and support their troops. Its weaknesses are that chapters can be completely unrelated and it can be confusing. Foster's War can also be very predictable and it's pretty obvious what happens.
Overall I think Foster's War is a great book that tells you a lot about what happened in America during the war. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about WWII that's not just about fighting, people getting captured and cities getting destroyed.