Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

It’s hard to imagine a better book to review on Veterans Day–nee Armistice Day–than Gordon Korman’s War Stories. In my experience, Korman has a tendency to be a bit larger-than-life; the books of his that I’ve read are frequently wildly improbable but satisfying. This newest offering, however, is understated (for Korman). The stories of Trevor in 2020 and his great grandfather in 1944 make for a fascinating look at D-Day and the Normandy invasion, and I learned all sorts of things I didn’t know. Korman’s message about war, about World War II, and about the soldiers who fought in it was a powerful one, and I choked up at the image of the few old soldiers left alive to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day. This is an excellent book for middle grade readers–especially boys.*

*The obvious flaw, of course, is that it came out this summer and takes place in 2020 but treats 2020 as if it were no different than 2019. I assume it was completed and in the midst of the publishing process before things went completely nuts, but there’s a dark sort of humor in reading about people flying to Europe and traveling to at least two countries in the latter half of the spring of 2020. Not so much…but on the other hand, subsequent editions can’t just change the year, because 2020 IS the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Unfortunate, right? Still–eh. I can live with it, partly because it’s just incredibly bad luck on Korman’s part, and partly because it would be nice to live in a world where 2020 wasn’t much different than 2019. Am I right?