Customer Reviews

Winnie's War

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4 star:		(2)
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1918: A world war is killing the boys abroad...but at home in Coward Creek, Texas, a feared epidemic is attacking all without discrimination and Winnie is determined to save her family from contracting the deadly Spanish Influenza. Between her controlling, irritable grandmother, her silent father, her traumatized mother, and the possibility of losing her best friend, Winnie has a lot to deal with, but her courage and stubbornness serve her well in her own battle to hold her family together.

Winnie's War is written in a lovely, engaging style, sharing aspects of L. M. Montgomery's or Eleanor Estes' literary qualities. Jenny Moss's portrayal of the era of the First World War was very real and engaging, and her book escaped becoming depressing as one might expect of a book about sickness and death. The plot was fairly simple and some minor secondary characters could have been more developed; however, Winnie herself is a delightful protagonist, very strong and appealing, and the more important secondary characters are unusually complex and believable.

Winnie's War is a very engaging story of a young girl trying to make sense of her world. Things are confusing enough and then comes an influenze epidemic that hits fast and hard, affecting some of the people she knows and cares about while missing others. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to who gets sick or who recovers.

Young girls should be able to relate to Winnie, especially in how confused she can be by the behavior of many of the adults in her life. However, along the way, she discovers that love is often expressed and demonstrated in unexpected ways. She is a very lucky young lady.

The author, Jenny Moss, really captures the essence of small town living. Having grown up in Texas myself, I can easily picture the area described. It is nice to be reminded of the values of living in such surroundings. I also find this genre a great way of teaching young - and not so young - people about real things that happened in the past. Makes history a lot more palatable for those who generally won't open a History book. I look forward to more such stories from this talented writer.

Winnie's War is a wonderfully written novel by the fantastic author, Jenny Moss (who is also my aunt). It feels as if you are almost there in Coward Creek, living with this family of six. The mean old grandma, the mother with a sad, mysterious past, the kind father, Winnie's younger sisters, and of course Winnie herself. Though Winnie is afraid of the Spanish Influenza, she is still strong and does everything possible to protect her family and herself. As you read you get lost inside Winnie's head, forgetting your surroundings and sometimes forgetting you are even reading a book. You can't put it down until you finish the very last page!

WINNIE'S WAR is a poignant story about a girl trying to protect her family and friends from the devastating Spanish Influenza, while struggling to understand her strained relationship with her mother. Winnie is a strong, likable narrator and it's easy to get swept up in her story. There's a lot of sadness along the way, and the book doesn't shy away from the stark reality of living through an epidemic. But the sorrow is balanced by surprising character revelations and a powerful sense of hope. Readers will come away thoughtful and moved.

Having heard the premise of the story for tweens was basically a historical novel, I was curious since I lived in the decade following the time period of the piece. During the period of 1928 to WWII, life in America was much the same as it was in 1918 when the great Spanish pandemic started. I grew up when the fear of the flu was still deeply instilled in the public's mind, and the milieu, the author described struck me as as true to the life I experienced around me especially in rural America.

My congratulations to Jenny Moss for for doing such a thorough research job on that period of American rural experience.

Lou, Austin, TX

Winnie's War is the type of book I wish I had read in middle school. With characters that leap off the page in a setting so real (because it is) I learned about a part of history coming alive before my very eyes (Spanish flu vs. Swine flu of today).

Through a child's eyes, we learn how how pwerless turns to hope as she tries to find solutions to her problems, some of them even larger than herself.

Jenny's soft lyrical words blow into your heart and remain there long after you close the book. A must read for for the young and the young at heart.

During the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918, Winnie struggles to keep her family and friends safe. But how can she fight something she can't see?

In this time of illness, Winnie learns tough lessons about life, death, and a mother and grandmother she never fully understood.

WINNIE'S WAR kept me reading as I suffered with and cheered Winnie on. With such likeable and relatable characters, Moss pulled me effortlessly into Coward Creek, Texas, in the fall of 1918. I emotionally connected with Winnie and grew with her as she lived through a terrible time in history.

Through her beautiful prose, Moss brings this little known epidemic out of the past and shares the poignant story of Winnie's life.

I will definitely recommend this book to others (including a few history teachers I know), and I look forward to reading future books by Jenny Moss.

Reviewed by: Joan Stradling

A beautiful coming of age story set during the 1918 influenza epidemic in the small town of Coward Creek, Texas. This book has it all--complicated, interesting characters and relationships, hefty doses of humor and sadness, a riveting plot, and a rich, finely crafted sense of time and place. Young readers will definitely find themselves rooting for Winnie as they grieve and grow with her through the lovely pages of this debut novel.

I had the good fortune to read an ARC of Winnie's War and was swept away by Jenny Moss's story of a small-town Texas girl standing up to try and protect her family from the 1918 influenza epidemic. This is the very best kind of historical fiction - full of rich characters, vividly detailed history, the suspense of a threatening pandemic, and even a touch of romance, in the form of a first-kiss scene that made me smile for weeks after I read it. Teachers, in particular, will want to snatch this one up for their classrooms and school libraries.