Sunrise over Fallujah / Walter Dean Myers.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A powerful new novel about the heroics and horror of war from Walter Dean Myers, whose bestselling book FALLEN ANGELS celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Operation Iraqi Freedom, that's the code name. But the young men and women in the military's Civil Affairs Battalion have a simpler name for it: WAR.

In this new novel, Walter Dean Myers looks at a contemporary war with the same power and searing insight he brought to the Vietnam war of his classic, FALLEN ANGELS. He creates memorable characters like the book's narrator, Birdy, a young recruit from Harlem who's questioning why he even enlisted; Marla, a blond, tough-talking, wisecracking gunner; Jonesy, a guitar-playing bluesman who just wants to make it back to Georgia and open a club;

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Here it is at last--the novel that will allow American teens to grapple intelligently and thoughtfully with the war in Iraq. Robin Perry, nephew of the soldier central to Myers's Vietnam novel Fallen Angels, has joined up because, as he fumblingly writes to his uncle on the eve of the invasion in 2003, "I felt like crap after 9-11 and I wanted to do something, to stand up for my country." Massing in Kuwait, assigned to a Civil Affairs unit, he finds that his motives continue to elude him as he assesses his fellow soldiers, all of whom seem tougher, braver, better directed. Even as the author exposes Robin's ambivalent feelings and doubts, he re-creates the climate of the earliest days of the war, when victory seems definable and soldiers credibly talk in March or April of being home by Christmas. Robin serves more as a lens on the war than as a narrator whose voice surprises or compels the reader. His comrades, too, conform to type; rather than individuals, they are representatives of characters familiar to war movies and genre fiction: the soulful musician whose awareness of irony does not stop him from heroism; the medic who defies military protocol in her humanitarianism; the tough-talking gunner--female--who quips her way through danger. In this novel, the conventions are helpful: they ground the reader. For as the Civil Affairs unit moves from a mission of winning "hearts and minds" to having to apologize for the "collateral damage" of having bombed a school and killed children in the "fog of war," the characters realize they are in the middle of many wars, none of which they understand. Readers will get a sense of the complexities of the war, and of the ways the rank-and-file, as represented by Robin, are slowly drawn into covert or morally dubious engagement. The action builds toward a climax that is affecting despite being easily foreseen. At the end, when Robin writes his uncle one last letter, asking, "[A]re there really enough words to make [kids] understand [about war]," the book itself dares readers to lift that question off the page; it is a forceful bid for their hearts and minds. Ages 12-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

Gr 8 Up-Walter Dean Myers tells a compelling story (Scholastic, 2008) about the Iraq War from the perspective of a young Civil Affairs soldier. Robin Perry, nephew of Richie (the main character from Myers's earlier book, Fallen Angels) heads to war full of vigor and hope to defend his country and prove to his parents that he is a man in his own right. The realities of war soon hit home, and Robin, known as "Birdy" to his unit, begins to wonder who his enemies really are in the war. He can't seem to see them in the faces of the women or children he meets along the way. He does, however, see their shadowy visages in the deaths and injuries his unit faces from roadside bombs and sniper attacks. Beautifully told to interest teens in the truths of war, without going into excessively violent or graphic detail, this wonderful book is enhanced by JD Jackson's superb reading. He conveys the emotional depth of the character with ease, drawing listeners into "Birdy's" doubts and fears and tugging them along into his heart palpitating near misses. The brilliance of the book is the balance of these moments with those that allow the young man and his team to relax, really connect with people, and grow into true heroes. An excellent book and an even better audiobook.-Jessica Miller, New Britain Public Library, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Myers earned a Coretta Scott King award for Fallen Angels (1988), about Richie, a young, black soldier who faces confusing missions, enemies indistinguishable from civilians, and a country that resents its so-called liberators. That book dealt with Vietnam, but the same description applies to this moving companion, set in Iraq. Narrated by Richie's nephew, Robin, this novel plunges readers into Operation Iraqi Freedom. The violence encountered by Robin's supposedly low-risk, mixed-gender Civil Affairs team demolishes expectations of a  textbook war and leaves the recent enlistee burdened with anxiety, as if every gun had an eye on the end that was looking for him.  Such remarks are emblematic of the spare, authentic power of Myers' writing, which reveals both the universal emotions of warfare and its contemporary specifics from embedded reporters to women warriors (one of whom experiences an attempted rape). Unfortunately, readers learn more about the situation than about Robin himself, who tends to be upstaged by his vibrant supporting cast. Another weak point is a melodramatic, heavily foreshadowed tragedy at the book's climax. Even so, this offers a compelling, close-up look at a war that has raged for a large percentage of teens' lives, and together, this novel and Fallen Angels deliver a searing statement about how the lessons of history go unheeded as the fog of war envelops generation after generation. A new paperback edition of Fallen Angels will build interest in both books; recommenders should note that the language and violence in the earlier title are markedly more graphic.--Mattson, Jennifer Copyright 2008 Booklist

Horn Book Review

(Middle School, High School) Private Robin Perry joins the army during his senior year in high school because "I felt like crap after 9-11 and I wanted to do something, to stand up for my country." In February 2003 he becomes part of the initial U.S. troop deployment in the second Iraq war. His story -- told through a first-person account; honest, soul-searching letters to his uncle Richie (the protagonist of Myers's Fallen Angels, rev. 7/88); and cheerful missives to his mother -- shows a young man who starts his tour of duty optimistically, begins to wonder what the war is really about, and finally concludes that "we were in a war of complete randomness...There was no logic except the constant adding up of numbers. How many are dead?" Robin takes readers behind the headlines to the everyday life of a soldier, an existence full of fear, bravery, boredom, confusion, compassion, and violence. His voice and perspective never waver from that of a young man trying to make some sense out of his tasks and his duty. An appended glossary defines potentially unfamiliar language, but the non-political approach of the novel allows readers to create their own definitions for the central word: war. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

In 2003, in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, young Robin Perry already wonders about "an enemy we can't identify and friends we're not sure about." Myers dedicates this novel to the men and women who serve in the United States Armed Services and to their families, and he offers a powerful study of the strange war they have been sent to fight, where confusion and randomness rule. Why are they fighting? Whom are they fighting? When will they be hit next? Narrated by Robin, nephew of Richie Perry, the main character of the landmark Fallen Angels (1988), this companion expertly evokes the beauty of Iraq and the ugliness of war. Given the paucity of works on this war, this is an important volume, covering much ground and offering much insight. Robin's eventual understanding that his experience was not about winning or losing the war but about "reaching for the highest idea of life" makes this a worthy successor to Myers's Coretta Scott King Award-winning classic. (map, glossary) (Fiction. 12+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.