Those Who Served–And Serve

Veterans’ Day is one of those holidays that sneak up on me.  I intend to write a note to a veteran, wear red, pray a special prayer . . . and usually don’t.  This year is no exception; otherwise I would have prepared this post a week ago to give any interested parents and teachers a chance to look up these books . . . and I didn’t.  But I can’t let the day go by without some observance—and a promise to do better next year!

The best observance for a book blog are a few good titles to commemorate our men and women in uniform, past and present:

The Impossible Patriotism Project, by Linda Skeers, illustrated by Ard Hoyt.  Dial, 2007, 32 pages.  Age-interest level: 4-8

In an age when patriotism often comes with scare quotes or a slightly upturned lip, here’s an unabashed treatment of the subject for preschoolers and early elementary.  Caleb has to work up a school project on the subject, but his youth and his personal circumstances make it confusing for him: just what is patriotism?  The other kids are working on maps or creating liberty bells, flags, and statues-of-liberty out of tempera paint and papier-mâché, but those are only symbols.

Caleb is struggling with a concrete reality: life as a military child with a father in combat overseas.  That fact is not revealed until the end, which encourages the readers and the read-to to think along with him about the best way to express an abstract idea.  The story may move parents more than kids, but kids will like it, too.

H Is For Honor: A Military Family Alphabet, by Devin Scillian, illustrated by Victor Juhasz.  Sleeping Bear Press, 2006, 40 pages.  Age/interest level: 6-12.

If you’re familiar with Sleeping Bear alphabet books, you know the format: a rhyming quartet for each letter, supplemented by sidebars with more information.  The title says it all for this one: Devin Scillian is a journalist and the son of a career officer, so he knows whereof he writes.  Some of the rhymes are a bit sing-songy, if not clunky:  “Give me an A for Army, and an A for Air Force too;/An All for all the armed services behind the red, white, and blue.”  But young children enjoy  the rhymes and there’s enough information in the sidebars to satisfy the curiosity of older kids–even aspiring soldiers, sailors, and marines.  It’s not all guns and grunts: we also learn the special mystique of the annual army/navy football game and why drill sergeants are so tough.  Scillian writes with a special heart for the military “brat” whose dad or mom may be deployed far from home, but all kids would benefit from learning more about life in uniform.  The publisher offers a free online study guide, too.

The Veteran’s Day Visitor, by Peter Catalanotto, illustrated by Pamela Schembri.  Henry Holt, 2008, 65 pages.  Age/interest level: 6-8.

This is a “Second Grade Friends” series book for beginning readers.  Emily and Vinni (Vincetta) love hanging out at Emily’s grandparents’ house, even though Pop-Pop is overly chatty sometimes.  He also has a tendency to fall asleep anytime, anywhere, which is weird but usually s not embarrassing.  Until Pop-Pop discovers that the girls don’t know what a veteran is (“It’s a doctor for dogs,” says Vinni) and decides he needs to speak to their class on Veteran’s Day.  Emily and Vinni are horrified: what if he falls asleep in the middle of his own presentation?  They come up with a plan to keep everybody awake . . . and hijinks ensue, but the conclusion is sweet and touching.  Pop-Pop is based on the author’s own father, a veteran who also suffered from narcolepsy but managed to accomplish a lot anyway–don’t miss her tribute to him on the back pages.

Turtle on a Fencepost, by June Rae Wood.  Puffin, 2001, 272 pages.  Age/interest level, 10-14.

Readers who haven’t already been introduced to Delrita Jensen in Wood’s previous novel, The Man Who Loved Clowns, will have a bit of catching up to do.  Delrita has come to live with her Uncle Bert and her prim-and-proper Aunt Queenie after the accidental death of her parents and the premature death of her beloved Uncle Punky.  Recent wounds and uncomfortable relationships have given her way too much to process, and now she has to share house space with her aunt’s cranky father, who prefers to be called Sergeant Roebuck.  There’s a lot more than veterans and armed-forces lore going on in this story, but it’s worth reading for Delrita’s relationship with the Sergeant, as they come to value each other and find mutual compassion for the burdens each has had to carry.  Turtle on a Fencepost is out of print, but will be available in some libraries and online sellers like abebooks.

Several years ago my brother-in-law said something I’ll never forget.  He enlisted in the army at the age of 19 (because he would have been drafted anyway) and served for three years, including a stint in Viet Nam.  When he first returned to the States from southeast Asia he got some of the shameful treatment from total strangers that was current at the time: the “baby-killer” epithets and spitting.  “But, you know,” he said, “that didn’t bother me too much.  Those people didn’t know me from Adam.  What bothered me was that only one person I knew ever told me ‘Thank you’ for serving, and that was my mom.”

Right then, I decided to send Thank you cards to every veteran in my family on the following Veteran’s Day.  And that was one year the holiday didn’t sneak up on me.

Are there any other Veterans Day books you can recommend for kids?  Let us know!

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