Shattered: Stories of Children and War

"Shattered: Stories of Children and War," edited by Jennifer Armstrong, is an anthology of 12 stories that deal with a common theme. To give a sense of the book, here are some brief introductions to some of the stories. "Shattered," by Marilyn Singer, shows how a brother and sister deal with the legacy of their father's Vietnam War service. "Bad Day for Baseball," by Graham Salisbury, looks at the experiences of a Japanese-American boy on the day Pearl Harbor is attacked. "I'll See You When This War is Over," by M.E. Kerr, is about a Quaker family during World War II. "Faizabad Harvest, 1980," by Suzanne Fisher Staples, follows the experiences of an Afghan family during the conflict between the mujahideen and invading Soviet forces; this is a particularly horrific portrait of war's impact upon a family and a community. Also noteworthy: "Sounds of Thunder," by Joseph Bruchac, looks at the relationship between two Indian boy soldiers serving in the U.S. Civil War. "Golpe de Estado," by Dian Curtis Regan, is about an American family in Venezuela during that country's 1992 civil conflict. This is a particularly vivid account of being an outsider caught in the middle of another country's strife. Regan makes good use of her first-person narrator, and brings irony and a darkly satiric edge to the story. The entire anthology is only 166 pages long. This makes for compact stories, but overall the authors have compressed some real power into these pages. Each story is accompanied by a crawling footnote that that contains supplemental information that is relevant to the story. It's an interesting and unusual feature that I appreciated. The book also includes brief notes on each contributor; all but one is identified as a U.S. resident. "Shattered" is a good example of fiction anthology with a tight focus. Editor Armstrong (who contributes a tale herself) has succeeded in crafting a rich and rewarding anthology that offers some compelling perspectives on a tragically perennial human activity.

by Dianna Hunter English, age 20"The juxtaposition of youth and war haunts me. They say war isn't an appropriate subject for young people, and you know what? I agree. But war doesn't care. That's why I decided to put this book together." -Jennifer ArmstrongShattered is a thoughtful and moving look at an all too timely topic: war. Editor Jennifer Armstrong has compiled a wide variety of short stories about the wartime experiences of children. A young Palestinian daughter flees to Jordan with her family during the Six-Day War in 1967. A young girl nicknamed Jacket helps hide her best friend's older brother when he is a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. Lewis Bowman, a young Mohawk, fights with the Union army during the American Civil War. Zack struggles with his American background during a 1992 "golpe de estado" in Latin America. A family of children faces the devastating effects of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Two children struggle to find safety in Israel after surviving Auschwitz.This book treats children's experiences with respect. Many of the authors speak from their own memories, and those authors writing fiction capture the intensity, the vulnerability, and the strength of childhood. I have to admit that at first the titled worried me. It is very easy to reduce children to their worst experiences and to neglect other aspects of their human identities so that their suffering is easier for others to process. However, this book's articulation of the perspective of children is honest, and for the most part it succeeds in being authentic. It is moving and, as it should be, troubling. Given the reality of conflict that we currently face, it is vital to remember the devastation of war, and the destruction of life that is left in its wake. Children are not safeguarded from that violence. Armstrong has succeeded in creating a diverse, compassionate, and important look at children and war.

Right now, war is one of the biggest issues in the U.S. It's preety much the only thing we hear about the news. However, whether or not we realize this, we are not the only ones that are affected by war. Millions of children have been killed during wars, or have suffered either from injuries or loss of family, and are now orphans. Jennifer Armstrong talks about these issues and also gives examples of such events occuring in many of the different wars that have occured. In some instances chidren hate the war, and in some they like it. Examine the different outcomes and ways that war has effected children's lived in "Shattered:Storied of children and war."

Short stories by M.E. Kerr, Gloria Miklowitz, Marilyn Singer and others center around the theme of children and war, delivering powerful messages of how war affects families, friends, and childhood. From an Afghan girl whose home is slowly destroyed by the Soviets to the children of a Vietnam vet, this covers a wide range of cultural experiences and scenarios of war.