Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
This article originally appeared in SLJ’s Extra Helping. Sign up now!
Diane P. Tuccillo, Fort Collins Regional Library District, CO -- School Library Journal, 4/16/2008
From SLJ April 2008
MYERS, Walter Dean. Sunrise Over Fallujah. 304p. CIP. Scholastic. May 2008. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-439-91624-0. LC 2007025444.
Gr 8 Up–Instead of heading to college as his father wishes, Robin leaves Harlem and joins the army to stand up for his country after 9/11. While stationed in Iraq with a war looming that he hopes will be averted, he begins writing letters home to his parents and to his Uncle Richie, the main character from Myers’s acclaimed Vietnam War novel, Fallen Angels (Scholastic, 1988). Robin finds himself in a diverse Civil Affairs unit of both men and women, with a mission to serve as a buffer between winning over the Iraqi people and concurrent military operations. As the war unfolds, the military angle of Robin’s job escalates, and he experiences increasing horrors of violence, death, destruction, insecurity, sorrow, and extreme fear. Ultimately, he comprehends the reasons Uncle Richie never wanted to talk to their family about what happened in Vietnam, saying, "…are there really enough words to make them understand?" Myers brilliantly freeze-frames the opening months of the current Iraq War by realistically capturing its pivotal moments in 2003 and creating a vivid setting. Memorable characters share instances of wry levity that balance the story without deflecting its serious tone. Through precise, believable dialogue as the catalyst, tame compared to that warranted in Fallen Angels, Myers’s expert portrayal of a soldier’s feelings and perspectives at the onset of this controversial war allows the circumstances to speak for themselves.
