Customer Reviews

Soldier's Heart : Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Although the amount of books based on Civil War is huge, very few books have talked about the life of simple soldiers in detail in order to know how the soldiers of the Civil War felt in the war. Gary Paulsen, a gifted writer, has filled up that absence quite successfully by only one book, named Soldier's Heart. Based on the Civil War experience of a real boy Charley, he brings the worst nightmare of the war into the pages of this book. Charley Goddard, a hard worker, soft hearted, adventure loving fifteen years boy has never been any place except his birthplace, Winona, Minnesota. When the war begins, the superficial images of the parade, uniform, pretty girls excite him and lead him to join in the Union army, lying about his age, since men under eighteen aren't allowed to go to fight. But as the harsh reality becomes clear, when he gets in the war, his all images vapor like heated camphor. He hasn't even thought about how terrible the war could be in reality. In his first battle his mind cries and prays to God, "I am not supposed to see these, GOD. No person supposes to see these. How can you let these happen?" But as the time passes Charley changes totally. He participates in all major battles of Civil War and finally gets wounded in the battle of Gettysburg. Gary Paulsen shows how a man's choice or mind changes when he participates in a war and uses Charley, as an example, who likes the shining revolver after war instead of other pretty things that he has liked before gets in the war. Paulsen's tiny details about battlefields help realizing how horrible the Civil War's battles were and also let the reader feel the way characters of the book have felt. Although this book is short and does not clearly describe some events, worth is beyond the price in currency. I have no doubt, if you start reading this book, you won't stop yourself until you reach to end and I, myself, am its great evidence. I highly recommend this book to those who are studying Civil War, especially the high school students, because some places of that story require better quality of understanding. The students who are new with English literature will be helped by this book to understand the easy level of written English.

Soldier's Heart is an engrossing tale of the Civil War as seen through the eyes of the young hero of the book. Charley is a fifteen year old boy who longs for the excitement of the war and so he lies about his age and enlists in the Union Army. He is not prepared for the horror he experiences or with the reality of war. The author does a good job of letting the reader see and feel what the character experiences as he goes from situation to situation I think this book would be a good one to use in class when studying the Civil War. It really brings home the realism of the Civil War. Mr. Paulsen's details are wonderful, even the slang words of the time are included without being overdone. I was surprised to find also that this story was based on the life of a real Union soldier. I highly reccomend this book, especially to middle school students and to teachers who teach about the Civil War.

I wouldn't consider "Soldier's Heart" to be one of Paulsen's best works, but for what it was, it sounded so true, which made it great.

15-year-old Charley doesn't exactly know what this great war between the states is about; however, he lies about his age and goes off to fight, believing that it's something exciting, and not worth missing. At first the war is just an adventure to him, with rides on trains, bad camp food, and pretty girls waving at him. But after his first battle, he realizes that war truly is war - and Charley is no longer a boy.

This book, though only one hundred pages, was really a great Civil War novel, that showed plainly how utterly stupid and terrible war is. It was based on a true story, which really adds to it, too. I'd also recommend "Rifles for Watie", by Keith, and also, "The Boy's War", by Murphy, which would go well with "Soldier's Heart".

A Soldiers Heart is a book that I would recommend to other readers not only because of the great details that Gary Paulsen put into it, but because you relive the Civil War. I liked this book because it's about a boy that is 15 years old, Charley Gaddard. He lied about his age and joined the Minnesota Volunteers. Gary Pualsen is a wonderful writer, and Soldiers Heart is one of his best novels. The gore is not all that great, but you get used to it. This is a great book to read if you are learning about the Civil War. Charley was pretty brave for going into the Civil War at the age of 15. What a big task.

The 1st Minn Volunteers are one of the most famous regiments of the Civil War, suffering tremendous losses to save the Federal line on the second day at Gettysburg. I'd read Mr Paulsen before and was very excited to see how he handled the Civil War. Let me begin with the things he does well: Charley learns quickly and stunningly that war is not picnicing and glory. He becomes hard and callous, but at the same time struggles with the disconnect within himself. He also struggles with what we now call PTSD, which is the point of the book. I'm surprised other reviewers haven't given this point a nod, since Paulsen himself talks about it in the forward. The battle sequences are grim and realistic, if a little cinematic. They felt more like a video game walkthough than a literary experience. What he doesn't do well: Paulsen did his homework on the Civil War, just not enough of it. He can tell us what uniform the 1st Minn wore at the beginning of the war accurately, but fails to put any correct commands in the mouths of any of his commanders. There is also some dialogue which seems more like modern reenactment talk than documentable period vernacular. He describes how to fire a muzzleloading musket, but uses incorrect drill commands in the battle scenes. The scene in which the wounded soldier commits suicide with his own musket is moving; it's also not accurate. There is no evidence to support this reconstruction. The chronology is problematic: the "first battle" is 1st Bull Run (Manassas), which for some reason he seems to believe was a multi-day battle. The "third battle" is some un-named but horrific conflict. The map shows it in eastern Maryland. It seems to feel like Antietam (Sharpsburg), but, if this is so, it's incorrectly located on the map. And why not name it? The conclusion I'm led to with an incorrect location and no name is that it didn't actually occur. Finally, there is Gettysburg. The 1st Minn. action here is relatively well described, especially for the young adult audience. Here, for some unexplained reason, the war narrative ends, although as we know, the war continued.
Most troubling is the last chapter, set on a summer day in 1867. Perhaps this is a spoiler alert: but has no one noticed that young Charley commits suicide with that Confederate revolver he took to his solitary picnic? This is a tragic and hopeless ending for a book which could have much to say to young people about getting help to deal with tragedy and trauma. As a story resolution, "Soldier's Heart" becomes a grim story with a bleak ending. I would be extremely reluctant to recommend this book as a school project for this reason, unless the instructor takes a great deal of time to explore other healthier alternatives to resolve PTSD or other forms of hopelessness young adults face. There's much this book could have been, unfortunately, it only partially succeeds at all of them.

i thought this book was interesting because it was true to the historical of the civil war and it had a nice mixture with the fiction of the story. i thought the ending was very truthfull to the times that the charecter lived, and i liked the hard truth of charley dying in the end because of his wounds

I had this book on one of my summer reading lists. It is a great book for teenagers and if this is on YOUR reading list, I surely suggest it. The book is pretty short and I finished it in one car trip in about 3 hours (and I'm a slow reader!) However, it does have some rather descriptive battle descriptions and should not be recommended for the squeamish reader. Also, if you are going through depression, it wouldn't help you because the general theme of the book is sad.
So, if you're looking for a short book to read that is filled with action, then this is definitely a book of distinction.!

I think that it was a good and exciting book had power and movement . I never really liked history books until I read The Soilder's Heart.

Soldier's Heart is a excited and realistic book that describe the life of a teenager soldier in the Civil War. This book does not contain fiction stanzas even though is a book, this book has the cruel story of a soldier of 15 years old who joined the Union army in the Civil War to fight against the Confederacy. The cruel and the excited contain of this book makes the book be one of the best of Gary Paulsen. This book is compared with NightJohn book because has similarties of cruel stories of war and of slavery. Those two books from the same author has and explain the true of what life is inside a war and inside slavery. Reading this book i have answered many questions that i had before read it. Questions that only in few good books like this one that contain the reality and not much fiction. In this book anyone can find many things and can find answers to questions about wars in life. In this book the author had a convination that makes reality and that makes the reader with wonders of the tomorrow's life. I really recomend this book to anyone does not matter the age, race, or nothing else, this book has words that makes people see in the mirror of the todays life. I think that the author, Gary Paulsen is good in describe the actions of his characters, he travel the readers to his way to make us to understand. He is a really good writter, he had showed his excellence with the NightJohn book. I really liked and enjoyned reading this book, i recoment to anyone! Is a really good book!

Kenny, Shawn, Cody and Chris liked this book because it was very graphic, descriptive and gory in most stages of the book. It was also a good book to read as a historical fiction requirement for History class. The boys would recommend this book to other readers that like Gary Paulsen's books, especially those about survival. Cody would like to recommend this book to anyone unfamiliar with Paulsen because this book will make you a fan.