Customer Reviews

Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam

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All at once lush and frightening, Walter Dean Myers has penned a tale that seeks to remind us what war really is. There are "Enemies" that are old men and babies. "Enemies" that sit beneath trees and contemplate their loved ones. Never have the lessons of Vietnam been more poignant or needed than they are right now. In writing this book, Myers has sought to present war beyond gore and gloom, looking instead at the very essence of death itself. Helped in this attempt by the award winning collage artist Ann Grifalconi "Patrol" is a frightening story that may hit a little too close to home for some, and not close enough for others.

Told in picture book format (a format that I suspect will raise a few eyebrows right there) the story follows one man throughout his day in Vietnam. The man is frightened. He knows that his enemy is nearby and wants to hurt him, just as he (on some level) wants to hurt his enemy. The man's patrol burns down an innocent village that may house members of the enemy. He calls in bombs and dives into elephant grass for cover. There, he accidentally runs face to face with the enemy. "In a heartbeat, we have learned too much about each other". Both men escape and the patrolman goes back to base camp to write a letter to a loved one. He writes, "I am so very tired of this war".

Taken in total, the book is a mélange of beauty and fear. Grifalconi has deftly intertwined illustration and photograph in the pages of this book. There are extraordinary pictures in which men drawn only with the slightest of pen lines crouch beneath huge overblown tree leaves. When bombs burst in the distance, planes are both the actual cut-outs of airplanes and the hollows cut out of a misty sky. The men watching are bathed in the orange light of the distance. Myers' text is up to the challenge of confronting what war is. Though the author never goes so far as to condemn the idea of war itself, he finds other ways of showing how ludicrous some wars really are. When you're as good an author as Walter Dean Myers, all you have to do is write the truth and your message will appear for you.

The inside cover of this book proclaims that its age range is 8-12, which is patently ridiculous. I won't debate if it is appropriate or inappropriate for an eight year-old. That is left entirely up to the reader (though there is nothing gory or horrific enough to shock a kid of that age). What I take issue at is the age of 12 designated as the oldest age at which a person would want to read this book. First of all, this book is perfect for teens and even college age kids and adults in giving a good eye for eye glare at the horrors of being caught in a fighting situation. Second, this book has a myriad of different uses. Teachers and librarians are constantly on the look out for picture books that are mature enough for those adults learning to read. What better purpose could this book have?

When Walter Dean Myers joined the army at the age of seventeen, he had to come to grips with Vietnam and the fact that his brother died in combat. For this author, this book strikes close to home, revealing the stupidity of fighting. With our nation constantly in combat these days, it takes books like this one to remind us of the dangers of acting as a nation without thought or intelligence. "Patrol" gives us many lessons to learn.

"The land of my enemy has wide valleys, mountains that stretch along the far horizon, rushing brown rivers, and thick green forest. My squad of nine men are in the forest. Above me, birds twitter nervously in the treetops. Insects and small animals scurry through the underbrush, trying to avoid the crush of my combat boots. The squad leader raises his hand. We stop. The sound of my breath is soft in the morning air. Somewhere in the forest, hidden in the shadows, is the enemy. He knows I have come to kill him. He waits for me..." Walter Dean Myer's autobiographical picture book chronicles a day in the life of one soldier, on patrol, in the jungles of Viet Nam. His spare, poetic text comes alive on the page, and takes the glamor and excitement out of war as you trudge through the difficult, hot terrain, ever vigilant. "We move again. We are always moving. My legs ache. My shoulders sag. My thousand eyes look for death in the waving bamboo fields." You can feel the smooth wooden stock of the soldier's rifle, the cold sweat running down his back, the fear and trembling as shots are fired and bombs explode, and the rapid beating of his heart. "I think I see the enemy. I reload and shoot again. It is only a shadow, but I do not stop shooting. In war, shadows are enemies, too." But mostly, you feel the weariness and futility. "I am so tired. I am so very tired of this war." Ann Grifalconi's stunning, multi-media collages are evocative and gripping, and together word and art paint an eloquent and powerfully vivid portrait of the Viet Nam War. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, Patrol: An American Soldier In Vietnam is a haunting experience that shouldn't be missed, and definitely one of the best new books of 2002.

This book has different types of pictures. The pictures are a bunch of picturesf cut out and put on one piece of paper. I think this army book is a great book for kids to understand what it feels like to be in a war.
The writting of this book is also unique because it is a type of poem writting form. This book is easy to read and understand. Kids should read this book if they are interested in war stuff and if they don't like to read long books.

Boom! A granade went off next to my buddy and sent him flying back to his death. Could I be next thought the brave soldier? Patrol is about the Veitnam War and a soldier who is very cautious about his surroundings. This book is very mysterious because you don't know what will happen to the soldier. He is constantly thinking about his family and how his death could come to him.
He is trapped in the middle of the Vietnamise forests and is lost with his buddies. They have a long maze of problems ahead of them including how they get back home. This book is good if you are a follower of this war or if you like stories that always are mysterious and are hard to guess what is going to happen. It is a picture book but that doesn't mean that is isn't good. Patrol is a mix of mystery and heroic. The author, Walter Dean Myers, realy knows how to make a great book for children.
I enjoied reading the book Patrol so I think you will too! Don't get too caught up in the pictures because they are awsome. If you are looking for an awsome picture book to just read then this is for you.

Patrol
Patrol is about a soldier in war looking for the enemy and doing what he is told. War makes the main character relies what he could loose and what he could gain. The captain never let up on the main character and never lets the platoon or him rest. Even when they are fired upon the captain tells them to shoot and keep moving. The main character calls in a bomber and the gun battle is over but that's not the end to the book.

As the children's librarian in the public library, I try to read a variety of subjects for a wide range of ages. I was impressed by the poetic style and the thought that the book provoked in all the the librarians here. Fear and fatigue were so real, it was feelable to the reader. And just who was the enemy? Shocking, what the young GI realizes.

If someone doesn't recommend Walter Dean Myer's book, Patrol for some type of award, let me be the first. In this time of contemplating war, this book is so appropriate, although I would not recommend it for use with students below 5th grade. This picture book made me feel what it must feel like to be a grunt on the field. Powerful!

I use this wonderful book as a pre-writing activity with my 9th grade students. Before I read the book to them, the students have to write an answer to a question on the board: What is a soldier's duty in combat? Then I read the book to them. Next, I ask them if the soldier in the story did the right thing by not shooting the enemy soldier. The students who think he did the right thing, provide at least 3 reasons why they think he did the right thing. The students who say he did not do the right thing, then give me at least 3 reasons why they believe as they do. Each student then writes a one sentence statement on a small index card (blue for those who say he did the right thing and green for those who say he did not do the right thing). All students then take 3 yellow index cards. On each of the yellow cards, students write one of the supporting reasons for their side. Next, the students order the cards from most to least important. Now, they have their thesis sentence written on the green or blue index card and 3 supporting reasons to go with it. Before they start on their draft, I explain that the #2 supporting reason will be the first paragraph after the introduction followed by #3 supporting reason and then the most important supporting reason coming right before the conclusion. This is how I start them on persuasive writing and the students truly find it painless and a lot of fun. This book only takes a few minutes to read to the class, and it generates a lot of discussion among the students.

How Walter Dean Myers ever dreamed up a picture book of the Vietnam War is beyond me. I immediately wanted to read it and buy it. It turned out to be very good and contains imagery of the scariness of war. It avoids gore but people do die and soldiers do kill. Haunting.

"Patrol" by Walter Myers is a great book. The main charactor doesn't have a name in this book. Anyways, he is in the forsests of Vietnam during the vietnam war. He is slowly walking through the woulds and than he hears gun shots. He dives to the ground and and looks for the opponent. People who would like this book are kids to adults. Adults would like it because they can remember the war that was going on when they were a kid. Kids would enjoy it because a lot of times kids like to play as if they were army men fighting in a war.Thise book is Historical Fiction because the war happend but not this particular scene.