Sharpshooter (Vietnam Series #2)

by Chris Lynch

Overview

"The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range." -- Kirkus Reviews

Of all his friends, Ivan is the only one looking forward to war.That's because Ivan has never backed down from a fight--especially when it comes to fighting for what's right. He has protected his friends from bullies for years. And now, as war erupts in Vietnam, Ivan wants nothing more than to fight for his country, just as his father did in World War II.Enlisting in the United States Army, Ivan is trained to be a sniper. And he's good at it. Very good. But Vietnam is not the war he was expecting. Somehow the glory and heroism of his father's war stories do not come so easily in the jungle.Now, for the first time, Ivan is forced to question what he's really fighting for... and whether it's a fight he can hope to win.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545443241
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2012
Series:	Chris Lynch's Vietnam Series , #2
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	314,358
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	12 - 15 Years

About the Author

Chris Lynch is the author of numerous acclaimed books for middle-grade and teen readers, including the Vietnam and World War II series and the National Book Award finalist Inexcusable. He teaches in the Lesley University creative writing MFA program, and divides his time between Massachusetts and Scotland.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Chris Lynch's World War II series:

* "An expertly crafted war story with fluid prose, bleak humor, careful attention to historic detail, and a view of 'The Good War' worth pondering." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

"All the sizzle, chaos, noise and scariness of war is clay in the hands of ace storyteller Lynch." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Though aimed at younger readers, Lynch doesn't write down, instead offering a powerful taste of war on a personal level." -- Publishers Weekly


Praise for Chris Lynch's Vietnam series:

"The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Lynch brilliantly captures the war in small details." -- Booklist

"A fine balance of thoughtfulness and gritty action." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

 

From the Publisher

Gr 7 Up—Lynch deftly explores the impact of the Vietnam War on the youth who fought it. Each book in this series is narrated by one of four friends, so readers will understand how war has profoundly changed each one. This installment features Ivan Bucyk. The son of a proud World War II veteran, he is excited to enlist in the Army, while his three closest friends are frightened and unsure of going to war (Ivan talks one of them out of fleeing to Canada when he's drafted). The teen thinks he is prepared to fight for his country, but he isn't prepared for the jungle's suffocating heat, the gruesome images of dead Vietnamese, the discipline of sniper training, or the harsh realities of losing fellow soldiers. Despite the friends' pledge to stay connected, Ivan closes himself off to their letters and other communication. War changes a man, and now Ivan wants nothing more than to go home. The depictions of the conditions of living and fighting in Vietnam offer readers insight into what made this particular war so different from its predecessors. A good choice for those seeking to understand the emotional complexities of war.—Kimberly Garnick Giarratano, Northampton Community College, Hawley, PA

School Library Journal

In the second installment of his Vietnam War series, Lynch follows 18-year-old Ivan Bucyk, one of four friends who pledged to go to war together once one was drafted. Ivan was the one most excited about going. After all, his dad was in World War II, and Ivan grew up on stories of Patton and North Africa. Trained as an elite sniper, Ivan is special, but, predictably, his experience in Vietnam doesn't match the stories of heroism he grew up on. Here, it's not clear who the enemy is. He had figured this war would be like the American Civil War, with a clear North and South, but in Vietnam the enemy is all around and impossible to identify. Ivan has quickly come to realize he was a stupid kid when he arrived; now, with a war he can't explain, he lives for a simple purpose: "I shoot people. That's it." And DERUS--"Date Eligible for Return to US"--has become his religion. Since this volume repeats the opening of the first (I Pledge Allegiance, 2011), it easily stands alone, but the series gains richness from the multiple narratives, boding well for the overall story when all four characters have had their say. The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range. (Fiction. 9-13)

Kirkus Reviews