Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

by Gary Paulsen

Overview

In June 1861, when the Civil War began, Charley Goddard enlisted in the First Minnesota Volunteers. He was 15. He didn't know what a "shooting war" meant or what he was fighting for. But he didn't want to miss out on a great adventure.

The "shooting war" turned out to be the horror of combat and the wild luck of survival; how it feels to cross a field toward the enemy, waiting for fire. When he entered the service he was a boy. When he came back he was different; he was only 19, but he was a man with "soldier's heart," later known as "battle fatigue."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780440228387
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/28/2000
Edition description:	Reprinted Edition
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	72,146
Product dimensions:	6.86(w) x 4.08(h) x 0.41(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Gary Paulsen is the author of more than 100 books.

Read an Excerpt

He heard it all, Charley did; heard the drums and songs and slogans
            and knew what everybody and his rooster was crowing.

            There was going to be a shooting war. They were having town meetings
            and nailing up posters all over Minnesota and the excitement was so
            high Charley had seen girls faint at the meetings, just faint from
            the noise and hullabaloo. It was better than a circus. Or what he
            thought a circus must be like. He'd never seen one. He'd never seen
            anything but Winona, Minnesota, and the river five miles each way
            from town.

            There would be a shooting war. There were rebels who had violated
            the law and fired on Fort Sumter and the only thing they'd respect
            was steel, it was said, and he knew they were right, and the Union
            was right, and one other thing they said as well—if a man didn't
            hurry he'd miss it. The only shooting war to come in a man's life
            and if a man didn't step right along he'd miss the whole thing.

            Charley didn't figure to miss it. The only problem was that Charley
            wasn't rightly a man yet, at least not to the army. He was fifteen
            and while he worked as a man worked, in the fields all of a day and
            into night, and looked like a man standing tall and just a bit thin
            with hands so big they covered a stove lid, he didn't make a beard
            yet and his voice had only just dropped enough so he could talk with
            men.
            If they knew, he thought, if they knew he was but fifteen they wouldn't
            take him at all.

            But Charley watched and Charley listened and Charley learned.

            

            

Editorial Reviews

"A stark, utterly persuasive novel of combat life in the Civil War that may well challenge generations of middle-school readers."—The New York Times

"Paulsen's storytelling is so psychologically true that readers will feel they have lived through Charley's experience."—Publishers Weekly, Starred

"The nightmare of the Civil War comes to the pages in this novel from Paulsen . . . based on the real-life experiences of a young enlistee."—Kirkus Reviews, Pointer

"The novel's spare, simple language and vivid visual images of brutality and death on the battlefield make it accessible and memorable to young people."—Booklist, Starred

From the Publisher

First published in 1998, this story of the Civil War as seen through the eyes of 15-year-old Charley Goddard is less bearable. Paulsen spares the reader nothing in this first-person account, based on a true story. You can smell the rot and feel Charley's sickness as he experiences the horrors and mental toll of fighting at Bull Run and Gettysburg. While a strong stomach is a requisite, the payoff is some of the most compelling and immediate writing for teens on the subject of war. Charley does return to his home in Minnesota, only to die in his early twenties, a victim of his "soldier's heart."—Angelina Benedetti, "35 Going on 13," BookSmack! 8/19/10

Library Journal

Bookseller Reviews

Little Charley Goddard was a soldier with a secret. This diminutive, grim-faced Minnesota volunteer was underage; only fifteen; seduced by the sound of drums and songs and slogan to march off to a war he couldn't imagine. An electrifying and sobering Civil War novel.

Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Paulsen doesn't address the issues that bring men to war; he is interested in describing what war is. In our age of missiles, which can make war seem more remote and its effects less palplable, a novel like Soldier's Heart may be an important one for young adults to read—and to remember.
— Riverbank Review

Martha Davis Beck

From the author interview at the beginning of this recording, listeners will be caught up in Paulsen's storytelling. His wrenching look at the brutal Civil War (based on one boy's real-life experiences) comes to life via Wendt's (Cheers) robust bass voice. As a patriotic and eager 15-year-old, Charley Goddard lies about his age to join the First Minnesota Volunteers in 1861. He never imagines that taking part in the "shooting war" means watching thousands of men be killed and wounded and seeing many others suffer from dysentery and other diseases. From Bull Run to Gettysburg, listeners march with Charley to the front lines, getting a better picture of just how awful battle can be. Though Charley survives the war with only relatively minor physical injuries, his mind and soul are forever changed--he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, then called soldier's heart. He dies, feeling much older than his years, at 23. Wendt provides some tender moments as Charley deals with horrific conditions, and he skillfully avoids melodrama in a generally straightforward reading. Ages 12-up. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 7 Up-"Nothing about war is good," says author Gary Paulsen in the interview that opens this recording of Soldier's Heart (Delacorte, 1998). This short novel is an honest look at the actual Civil War experiences of Charley Goddard, a 15-year-old who served in the Union Army. Without sentimentality, Paulsen presents all the elements of 19th century warfare, from the boredom to the brutality. The story chronicles the adolescent's transition from an eager youth to a dissipated young man. Charley survives several major battles, but he goes home spiritually and physically crushed, destined to die before his 24th birthday. George Wendt (Norm on Cheers) provides an unemotional reading of the text. Though it may sound laconic, it does convey the young soldier's internal shutdown as he moves between rage and fear. There is an author's note at the end of the narration that adds more information about Charley and the period. The lightweight cassette box, not like Listening Library's usual audiobook case, is not suitable for circulation. The quality and brevity of this recording make it an excellent supplement to middle and high school classes studying the Civil War. For school and public libraries.-Barbara S. Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

. . .[A] stark, utterly persuasive novel of combat life in the Civil War. . . -- The New York Times Book Review

Henry Mayer

The nightmare of the Civil War comes to the page in this novel from Paulsen (The Transall Saga), based on the real-life experiences of a young enlistee. Charley Goddard, a hard-working, sweet-tempered Minnesota farm boy, can't wait to sign up when the call comes for men to defend the Union. But the devoted son and brother who looks forward to sending home the $11 a month he earns for his soldiering is not prepared for the inedible food, ill-fitting uniform, or the dysentery he experiences just while training. The passages on the battles of Bull Run and Gettysburg are—as they should be—disconcerting, even upsetting, in the unflinching portrayal of the bloodshed and savagery of war. What is truly remarkable is Paulsen's portrayal of Charley, who is transformed from an innocent boy into a seasoned—but not hardened or embittered—soldier. Most haunting of all, more than the fiery skirmishes themselves, is the final picture of Charley, so shaken and drained from the experience that the only peace he can envision lies within suicide. An author's note tells of Charley's true fate; dead at 23 from the psychological and physical ravages of war.

Kirkus Reviews