Mare's War [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Tanita S. Davis (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 9, 2009

Meet Mare, a grandmother with flair and a fascinating past.

Octavia and Tali are dreading the road trip their parents are forcing them to take with their grandmother over the summer. After all, Mare isn’t your typical grandmother. She drives a red sports car, wears stiletto shoes, flippy wigs, and push-up bras, and insists that she’s too young to be called Grandma. But somewhere on the road, Octavia and Tali discover there’s more to Mare than what you see. She was once a willful teenager who escaped her less-than-perfect life in the deep South and lied about her age to join the African American battalion of the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.

Told in alternating chapters, half of which follow Mare through her experiences as a WAC member and half of which follow Mare and her granddaughters on the road in the present day, this novel introduces a larger-than-life character who will stay with readers long after they finish reading.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10–On a parent-mandated cross-country road trip with Mere, their unpredictable grandmother, 15-year-old Octavia and 17-year-old Tali make the transformation from complaining, self-absorbed teens to observant, supportive family members. Mere promises not to smoke if the sisters promise not to use earphones on their way to a family reunion. And then she begins to tell her life story. As the miles pass from California across the southern states, the girls become intrigued with memories of Mere's harsh childhood of domestic work and her struggle to protect herself and younger sister from their widowed mother's lecherous boyfriend. Mere's account of her war years is full of historical detail and lively personal anecdotes about the training, treatment, duties, and social life in her African-American regiment of the Women's Army Corps both on assignment in the U.S. and in the European Theater during 1944 and 1945. Octavia and Tali write postcards home to family and friends revealing their adolescent reactions to what they see and hear. Their bickering subsides as they begin to understand the experiences, people, and decisions that shaped their grandmother and the family bond they all share. Told in alternating chapters of Then and Now, this contemporary intergenerational story resounds with mutual exasperation, criticism, discovery, and humor. Octavia and Tali are believable and at times devious as they try to escape Mere's scrutiny. A steady travelogue, realistic banter, memorable characters, and moments of tension, insight, and understanding make this an appealing selection.–Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC
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Review

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2009:
"Absolutely essential reading."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (June 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375857141
• ASIN: B004KAB33Y
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #901,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Roadtrip July 26, 2009

By Charlotte

Format:Hardcover

Mare's War tells of two journeys. In a car speeding (or not, depending on the driver) across America to a mysterious reunion are two teenage girls (who had their own, more teenagerishly appropriate plans for the summer) and their grandmother, Marey Lee (known as Mare), who planned the trip. And on the way, their grandmother tells them the story of her first journey, seventy or so years before, when she escaped from her home in Bay Slough, Alabama and went to war.

The two sister, Octavia and Talitha, squabble, fret, drag their feet, and send occassional postcards of complaint to friends and family (shown in the book, in a nicely light touch), but as the miles pass. and their grandmother's story unfolds, the tone of the postcard messages begin to change. Their grandmother's life as Marey Lee, an African American teenager in the Women's Army Corps has them fascinated. The friendships she made, the prejudice she encountered, and the historical pagent of which she was a part are spellbinding stuff. This is an eye-openingly powerful narrative that educates without didactism, filling a blank space in the history of World War II without ever loosing sight of Marey Lee, the girl.

It was a story that sure kept me enthralled (although I'm glad I didn't have to drive 2,340 miles from California to Alabama in summer with my sisters and grandmother to hear it).

Davis manages to make her teenagers in the present interesting people in their own right, and not just vessels created to receive Mare's story, but their sibling relationship and 21st century teenage angsts pall in comparison to what their grandmother went through (to give them credit, they relize this). In essence, Mare's War is first rate historical fiction, set in a modern narrative that, I think, makes it much more accessible and appealing to teenagers than Marey Lee's story, served straight up, might have been.

This was a book I couldn't put down, that I recommend enthusiastically to fans of WW II historical fiction, historical career stories, and roadtrips!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too July 16, 2009

By TeensReadToo

Format:Hardcover

Going on a road trip with their wacky grandmother, Mare, is not at all how either Octavia or Tali wants to spend their summer. However, at Mare's insistence, they reluctantly agree to accompany her all the way across the country for some mysterious family reunion in Alabama.

The girls don't know how they will survive all of this time cooped up together with each other and with Mare. Before they even leave the driveway, Mare is already driving Tali crazy with her smoking and Tali's headphones are equally unacceptable to Mare. The two make a pact to banish cigarettes and headphones for the trip, and do a pretty good job of keeping their word.

To whittle away the hours as Mare drives, she tells stories of her younger years. Both Tali and Octavia are astonished to hear some of Mare's stories about growing up in the Great Depression and running away from home to serve in the WAC (Women's Army Corps) during World War II. Mare's struggles at home made joining the army seem like a wonderful proposition. The army provided a place to live where she would be safe from harm and fed three good meals a day.

However, even though the WAC helped defeat the enemy in Europe, the segregation that Mare and the colored soldiers in 6888th Battalion, Company C face proves much harder to vanquish. Nevertheless, Mare's tough spirit and pride from her army days will always remain an integral part of who she is. After all she has been through, it is no wonder Mare thinks Octavia and Tali are spoiled.

By the end of this trip, all three women grow closer and develop a newfound appreciation and respect for one another.

Tanita S. Davis weaves a thoughtful tale, alternating chapters between the modern day road trip and Mare's stories of the olden days. Readers who enjoyed Sherri L. Smith's FLYGIRL will also love this tale with a similar historical background.

Reviewed by: Amber Gibson

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and informative October 21, 2010

By Dienne TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Tanita Davis's "Mare's War" is a good example of a book which can entertain as well as educate. It presents an interesting glimpse into a historical reality that most people are probably only vaguely familiar with - the service of African American Women's Army Corps members during World War II. But at the same time, the book is good fiction. The believable, engaging and dynamic characters hook us in while the plot offers enough suspense to pull us along.

The book alternates between "Now" sections in which Octavia and her petulant older sister are forced into an extended road trip with "Mare" , their grandmother, in order to go to some mysterious family reunion, and "Then" sections in which Mare reveals events of her childhood and how she ran away to serve in the Army without her mother's consent. Although annoyed with missing their summer, the girls get drawn into Mare's story despite themselves.

The "Then" sections are, in my opinion, the more vivid and engaging sections. Mare's narrative voice and dialect add life and humor to the story. Her sheer hard-headedness get her through her fear and enable her to do her duty with pride, even in the face of covert and overt racism. The "Now" sections primarily serve to frame Mare's story and wrap it up in a tidy package. As the story progresses, however, Octavia and Talitha develop and grow in a way that gives them importance in themselves.

There are some minor flaws with the book. I was somewhat bothered by the use of the present tense in Mare's story - after all, she is supposedly telling her granddaughters about events well in the past. I understand why Ms. Davis chose that route, however. Past-tense narration would not have the immediacy that's so engaging in Mare's story. There's also an incident that takes place on the troop transport to Europe in which a character is severely injured, possibly dead. We don't hear any more about her for several pages, at which point we learn rather off-handedly that she's fine and dandy. And finally, either their road trip really was extremely meandering, or else Ms. Davis took some artistic license with her geography. At one point they are entering New Mexico. Many pages later they are back in Arizona, then a few short pages later they are in central Texas.

There are few surprises in the book - most events can be guessed well in advance. But the book doesn't hinge on the suspense of what happens next - we sense from the beginning that everything will wrap up tidily. The drama comes rather from the dynamics between the characters as they learn more about their family and themselves and how the characters grow into themselves and closer to each other through their experiences.

I recommend this book for junior high and high school kids of all races as an antidote to white-washed history texts that often leave blacks feeling like slavery was blacks' only "contribution" to history. It's important for all kids to be aware of the contributions of black women during World War II, and this book provides an excellent vehicle for that understanding.