The Purple Heart [Paperback]

Marc Talbert (Author)

Book Description

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

This is an Authors Guild/BIP title. Please use Authors Guild/BIP specs. Author's bio: Marc Talbert has written many books for young readers, several of them published in seven foreign countries. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Tesuque, New Mexico. Description: Wounded. That must make my father a hero, thinks Luke Canvin. When his father arrives home from Vietnam, he is silent, tearful, and tired. This is not what Luke pictures a hero to be.

How did his father earn his Purple Heart? Luke becomes convinced his father's Purple Heart holds the answers to the questions he can not bring himself to ask.

The costs of pride, dignity, honesty, and humility become apparent as Luke and his father struggle to rebuild their relationship and learn, in the process, a new definition of courage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Elementary-school-age Luke is elated when his father returns home after being wounded in Vietnam. However, the boy sees not a conquering hero but an exhausted, silent stranger. Luke learns that his father has been awarded the Purple Heart only when he sees him secrete it in his footlocker. Believing that the medal can explain his father's mysterious transformation, he pockets it as a kind of talisman. But, playing a prank on a neighborhood eccentric, Luke loses the medal--an event that leads to several discoveries. In a cathartic encounter, the lad finally hears the less-than-glamorous truth behind the Purple Heart and regains the father he thought he'd lost. Talbert ( Double or Nothing ; Pillow of Clouds ) again proves his mastery at evoking the turbulence of preadolescence, when so much is felt but so little can be expressed. In few words and with laserlike illumination of detail, he creates a compelling, resonant tale that should appeal beyond the recommended readership. Ages 9-13.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-- In a carefully constructed family drama, Talbert portrays a young son's confusion and anxiety when his wounded father returns home from Vietnam. Luke Canvin treasures the Purple Heart awarded his father, and yet he fears asking the taciturn, brooding man how he earned it. His sensitive, pregnant mother encourages him to be patient with his father, who must accept his injury, find a new career, and cope with critics of the war. Unsettled, unpredictable tornado weather hangs over Luke's midwestern hometown just as turmoil fills his life. His war games with a friend lead to a confrontation with elderly, reclusive Mrs. Pederson. Pressed into her service by his parents, the boy comes to understand her loneliness, fears, and memories. With growing insight into the strengths and weaknesses of human nature, he at last learns the traumatic but unglorious details of his father's injury, and his romantic illusions about the Purple Heart are replaced by a realistic understanding of courage. Through believable characters, Talbert delivers a positive statement on the healing power of family love. Rich with parallels and symbols, the book offers war ``enthusiasts'' a sober glimpse of a Vietnam vet's homecoming and the meaning behind a medal. --Gerry Larson, Chewning Junior High School, Durham, NC
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (August 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595097715
• ISBN-13: 978-0595097715
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,806,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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