Shelter From The Storm

Shelter From The Storm by Anita Stansfield

This is the fourth novel in the Jayson Wolfe series. Previously things seemed happily wrapped up. This time Jayson and Elizabeth are happy and progressing nicely when Jayson has some mental drama over a nosy ward member. She believes that Jayson is Hell bound because he plays rock and roll. She refuses to let her son have any contact with him. Jayson is released from his Young Men's calling because of this. Jayson spirals downward emotionally. He used to think that his musical talent was a gift from God. Now he is not so sure.

I always profess to be a Stansfield fan. I still am. Does it sound like I am about to say but? I am. I do adore her and will read her books over and over. However (but) there are some that are better than others. I loved the first three books in this series. This one seemed like a stretch and somewhat pointless. Also as Stansfield tends to do at times.........very mentally harrowing. One person wants to keep their feelings bottled up and the other one won't stop nagging them to just dump their emotion all over the floor like Kool-Aid. This gets tedious. By the end though, Jayson sees his former counselor and she actually wraps up the trauma with a great and concise explanation.

The reason I love Stansfield is because her characters have great character and grit. They abide on a spiritual plain that will take me eons of eternity to reach. So they give me things to think about. Her message.....however long it takes her to reach it......is always worth considering. I like that she is willing to broach timely subjects unique to the culture. I do love that many characters are independently wealthy.......truly helpful, but I would love to have a good juicy story about a daddy cop that has to work 7 jobs to keep the family fed, therefore not truly able to hold most callings where dependability is needed.....nor can he make it to every FHE or scripture reading. I wonder how he would ever make it on such a lofty spiritual plain. Please consider writing this and giving me some ideas. Just a thought.

Rating 4 ish.........love you Anita.
Rating G

The Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Despereaux is so named by his mouse mother. Despereaux is very unmouse like. He has large ears, likes reading books instead of eating books, and he falls in love with a human. Despereaux quickly falls in love with the young Princess Pea after reading a fairy tale that inspires him to save a princess like a true knight. For revealing himself to humans, Despereaux is sentenced to the dungeon and sure death, by his father and the mouse council.

Despereaux saves himself by telling the jailer one of the stories he has read. What is has saved himself from is death by rat. Rats are disgusting creatures of darkness. One rat has contrived to ruin the life of Pea because she has made him feel a worthless creature of darkness, though he loves the light. The rat acquires the help of a young servant girl that wants desperately to become a princess herself and is deluded enough to think she can take Pea's place.

Despereaux learns of the treachery and finds his chance to become a fairytale knight. The love of Despereaux saves the kingdom from darkness.

Great story that my children also really loved. DiCamillo has a sweet wit that is fun to read even for adults.

Rating 4.5 Loved it but not enough for a 5. I'm not sure what was missing for me.
Rating G Clean. Great family read.

As Long As I Have You

As Long As I Have You Hearts of the Children Vol. 5 by Dean Hughes

The end of the war finally comes for the Thomas family. Everyone except poor sweet Gene returns home to Utah. Even the Stoltz family is brought to America. At first the book seemed to be wrapping up nicely. Then we come to find that the boys (Alex, Wally and Richard) have varying degrees of PTS (post traumatic stress).

Wally makes it home first. He is shipped around to different hospitals. He is fattened up, checked for diseases, and vaccinated. When he returns home he quickly learns to enjoy life again. He seems even better than the old Wally. Much deeper. Lorainne by some miracle is only engaged, not yet married. Once she sees Wally, she knows that she still loves him. Wally and Lorrainne are engaged and married quickly. Wally begins working for President Thomas as the family parts plant. His life seems set and happy.

Bobbi is the next to return. There are moments that are incredibly tense and weird feeling between Richard and Bobbi. She wants him to want her. (Who doesn't?) He is still suffering with feelings and flashbacks from being blown to high heaven by a Kamikaze pilot. They finally marry and they still have a stiff, strange relationship. At one point Bobbi has a miscarriage. Richard has been working for President Thomas so that he can give Bobbi the lifestyle he thinks is important. Finally Bobbi can't take anymore weirdness and confronts Richard about his pent up feelings and the fact that she thinks he does not enjoy his job. Richard tells Bobbi about some things during the war that he never wanted to share with her. He also agrees to go back to college and do something with his life that he will truly enjoy.

Peter shows up in the same German LDS branch that Alex has just been given a calling in. He finds that Alex is now his brother-in- law and that his family is still alive. It may have been a little contrived and tightly wrapped up at this point, but I am glad that Peter was able to reconnect with his family. Peter is reunited with the Stoltz family and moves to America with them. They live in Salt Lake where President Thomas has made jobs for Heinrich and for Peter. He has also provided a house and a car for them. Peter does not like America as much as the rest of his family. He does not learn the language as quickly either. He wants to return to Germany and help rebuild it. He also has fallen in love with the young daughter of the family that took him in and saved his life.

LaRue is growing up and becoming more serious. She doesn't date and she doesn't seem to care for clothing as much as she did in the past. High school is ending for her and she is able to receive a scholarship to a college out East. President Thomas is concerned for LaRue. He is afraid that once she leaves the valley, her faith with subside and she will be brainwashed by the liberal thinkers she meets. LaRue wants to leave for this reason. The more she ponders, the more she wonders if her faith is really strong enough. She has many doubts which become strikingly more evident when she talks with her friend Cecil and her younger sister Beverly. LaRue hopes that leaving the family will make her rely on her own faith more.

Alex is the last to return home. He has a very hard time adjusting to being a father of a one year old that he has never met. He realizes that he has hardly spent any time with Anna. President Thomas wants to put Alex right back at the head of the family business but Alex has other ideas. Alex suffers with anxiety and anger from the horrors he saw and feels like he committed while in the Army. He refuses to say anything about what occurred while he was away. He is angered that anyone would think he is a hero. Finally Wally and Richard help Alex begin talking about some of the things that are plaguing his mind after Alex freaks out at the plant where he works. Alex realizes that they do understand him and that he can speak to them frankly about his fears and regrets. He gets closer to Anna and his baby Gene. He and Anna are soon expecting another baby. Alex decides that he may stay with his father's business and later enter politics.

If felt like the story wrapped up fairly neatly. I am sure some people find that not really true to life, but there is another series to follow this one. I like feeling like most things have been resolved. I really loved this series and felt like I learned a good deal of history while coming to love the characters.

Rating 5
Rating PG war stories of the violence that occurred to the soldiers.

Autumn Letters

Autumn Letters by Michael Frederick

Picked up this little nugget at the library because the cover looked new.
Frederick seems to be publishing independently. I could not find anything about him and his website would not come up.

Mark loses his mother to a car wreck. He is then quickly moved to another state where his estranged father lives. Mark lives with his father's grandparents. He makes new friends with the rough boy living across the street (Hurley). Mark begins to fit in when his classmates realize that he has a way with reading, writing and baseball.
Mark finds first love in Hubbard, a lonely girl living on a pig farm and looking for the cure for eye disease. Their love begins as Hubbard is in the county jail for burying her father on his pig farm and continuing to cash his state checks. Her father, like most of the other men in her family died prematurely from alcoholism. Hubbard cashes his checks in order to keep up with her medical research. Mark is in charge of bringing Hubbard her meals, as his grandmother is the meal supplier to those in lock up. Hubbard is soon released to a girl's home. She and Mark continue their growing friendship as Mark volunteers to help care for Hubbard's pig Johnny while she is away.
Hurley is a mean and strange boy. He is surely the leader as Mark is the follower. He has cruel intentions, abusive parents and a foul mouth. Mark likes the free and strong part of Hurley but not the side of him that is crude and abrasive.
Through Hurley and Hubbard, Mark learns about living in the present and being free to enjoy the moment by not living for the future or dwelling on the past.
The book entertained me and I could see that Frederick wanted to put across that 'freedom factor', living in the moment philosophy. Many times I felt like the book was really choppy and jumped around. He would try to allude to an upcoming event, but I would have a hard time following past to present. Well, okay I could follow, it just didn't flow really well.
Rating 3 I enjoyed Mark and Hubbard a great deal. I was surprised by feeling like I knew Hurley and then finding him to be a wholly different character at the end.
Rating PG 13 Teen sex (non descriptive), crude language

To A Child Love Is Spelled T-I-M-E

To a Child LOVE is Spelled T-I-M-E by Mac Anderson & Lance Wubbles

Super short read, which I will probably pick up now and again just to keep me focused on being the right kind of mom. Anderson and Wubbles have compiled great thoughts on parenting along with some fabulous quotes. As I was reading it, I immediately had it pointed out to me that no matter how tired or hurried I am I need to give time to my children. So I let the baby fall asleep on my bare stomach as he is prone to desire, and I read the whole book. Then I promptly got up this morning to read to one of the other little ones.

A favorite quote: "Our greatest danger in life is in permitting the urgent things to crowd out the important. -Charels E. Hummel

I was reminded over and over where to keep my focus. I think I will keep this next to my bed to read frequently. Topics range from responsibility, time, love, listening, marriage relationship, traditions, and discipline.

Quote: "At every step the child should be allowed to meet the real experiences of life; the thorns should never be plucked from his rose." -Ellen Key

Rating 5

Rating G

Zlata's Diary

Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic

Zlata began her diary as any other fourth grade girl. She liked junk food, music and her friends. She seems incredibly well spoken for her age. Her world quickly changes from what most of us would find in our everyday life to having her home and country torn by war. War is raging in Sarajevo between Serbs, Croats and Muslims in the early 1990's. Friends and family flee the country or are killed during bombings and shellings.
Zlata is compared to Anne Frank. She is afraid her fate may be the same as Anne's. Because Anne had a name for her diary, Zlata decides to name her's Mimmy.
As I read through this diary, I felt like I was reading the stories of my own people. I couldn't fathom having my normal life ripped at the seams over night. Zlata and her family were starving by winter. They lost water and had to haul it in order to have it on hand. Many times electricity was lost for days and then later rationed to those with priority. Her parents went from a well educated happy couple to thin and terrified. Much of their time was spent hidden in the basement of their apartment building as the shelling raged outside. Family and friends fled the country in order to save themselves. As her early tween years passed, Zlata spent her time in the safer parts of her apartment, mostly her kitchen, or in spotty school attendance when there was no shooting. Where she had once had many friends, language and music lessons, she mostly only had her parents and close neighbors while Bosnia Herzegovina suffered under attack as the 'kids' (politicians) played at their games.
Striking and moving blow by blow of daily life in a war torn country. I would recommend for anyone to read this. Because she was so young, Zlata does not cover the reasons behind the war. She admits not understanding, only wishing for peace. During the same years covered by the diary, I was only a few years older. I cannot remember much from the political history of the time and will be reading more to find out. Having had family leave Yugoslavia in the early 1900's I felt like every picture or detail contained people that could have been me.

Rating 4.5
Rating PG The warring and violence although terrifying to Zlata was not greatly described in horrific detail and therefore not rated R. I would let my 9 year old read this.

Ready or Not

Ready or Not by Meg Cabot

This is the follow up novel to American Girl. Sam is still dating the First Son and being a teen ambassador. This time Sam's conundrum is whether or not to have sex with boyfriend David. She is also publicly supporting the Presidents new Family agenda. The agenda includes ratting out young girls to their parents if they are seeking contraception. Sam mistakenly announces that she has said yes to sex during a televised town meeting held at her high school. Although Sam has not agreed to be sexual with David, everyone including their families think she has.

Sam is called a slut at school. The popular girls try to ostracize her. Sam's popular sister Lucy stands up for her. Many others in the school join in and Sam finds that she has more friends than she thought.

Sam has been invited to Camp David with the First Family for Thanksgiving. She thinks that David has invited her in order to have sex with her for the first time. She decides that she is not ready. She then finds that David truly invited her just to invite her and had no other plans. Let down and a bit angry she then decides she is ready for sex and 'jumps his bones'. She feels that she has come to the realization that sex did not change their relationship. She also learns that her popular sister, although having had a steady boyfriend for a long time......has not had sex.

I was a bit surprised to have this book revolving so much around the choice to be sexually active as a teen. While I am semi glad that someone as broached this subject, I was not thrilled with the outcome. Sorry Sam, but sex changes everything. Also as a book geared toward young teens I was not at all happy about other sexual tips garnered in this read.

Rating 2 I did have fun reading it, but I didn't like the message to the target audience. I know that is a totally personal opinion.......... but that's the whole point of posting.

Rating PG 13 contraception, sex, sexual acts, language

When We Meet Again Children of the Promise Vol. 4

When We Meet Again Children of the Promise Vol. 4 by Dean Hughes

WWII is nearing it's end. The Thomas family anticipates reunion.

Alex is sent to army intelligence. He must drop in to enemy territory with a German ex patriot to find landing zones and heavy artillery that must be destroyed. He is successful, but when he tries to return to the Allies he is taken captive and his partner is shot and killed. Finally the Allied troops believe Alex and he is released. The war ends in Europe. Alex is sent home to Anna on leave. He cannot stay until their baby is born. He returns to Germany because he is fluent in German. He is to seek out Nazi and Gestapo leaders to be turned over for their war crimes. His son Gene is born in London. Alex is able to find Anna's father. He tells Papa Stoltz that he will continue looking for Peter, but that he should return to London and care for Anna and her mother and the new baby. Papa agrees but is reticent to give up on the search.

Anna is used by Allied intelligence to translate recordings of Allied spies from German to English. She hears Alex's voice. She fears for his safety and is angry that he would risk so much when he has a child on the way. She and Alex are reunited for a short time before the birth of Gene. She knows that the end of the war for Europe will not be the end of the war for Alex. With his skills, he will be left behind to attend to much of the damage and rebuilding.

Bobbi is on the Naval hospital ship The Charity. They are sent out to the Pacific Islands as the war there rages on. Her ship is bombed by a Kamikaze pilot. She and Richard are engaged but Richard is home in Utah having reconstructive surgery on his hands. He seems concerned that President Thomas has big plans for his family involving money and production plants after the war. Richard is afraid he will not be able to give Bobbi the same kind of life. Bobbi is upset because she wants Richard to fight for her and not care about income. Richard meets the Thomases.

Wally is still a POW in Japan. He works the Japanese mines. When Hiroshima has an atomic bomb dropped, the war ends in the Pacific soon after. The POW's are released. Many have built up anger towards their captors. Wally begins to feel bad for the general public of Japan. Once he has been able to get food for himself, he begins traveling around sharing what he has with the Japanese. Eventually Wally is able to make it out of Japan and home to America. He finally learns of Gene's death as he contacts his family. He and the other men wonder how deep the scars from being held captive and abused will run. They wonder if they will ever be able to act normal again.

LaRue befriends a boy in her class that is intelligent and easy to talk to but he doesn't keep up on current fashion. She leads him on with her friendship knowing that he could never be more to her because of his "coolness" factor. LaRue and President Thomas continue their power struggle. LaRue thinks that her father doesn't like her.

Once again I am loving this series. I feel like I have learned so much about this era. My favorite is the way that Wally still has such a deep urge to remain humane and spiritual despite the horror he is shown by his captors.

Rating 5

Rating PG war

Soldier Boys

Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes

Dieter and Spence are two boys caught up in WWII. Spence an American boy wants to prove his worth to those back in his home town. Dieter has joined Hitler Youth and wants to help Hitler wipe out the evil Americans and kill the filthy Jews.

Each boy finds that the glory of war is not what they thought it would be. They are starved, frozen and wounded. They see the baseness of humanity. As their lives are on the line and quickly coming to an end, they realize the hatred that they carry is not the men they want to be. Spence risks his life to help Dieter as he lay dying after battle. His kind and charitable hand is paid with the price of his own life when German soldiers gun him down as he drags Dieter to medics.

Quick tender read. Very reminiscent of Children of the Promise series. Great in helping understand history, current and future war events.

Rating PG violence, war
Rating 3.5

Love Comes Softly

Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke


I am learning that this author and these books are quite popular and from the picture I assume they are also movies. This series was recommended to me and so I thought I would give it a whirl.

Marty (Martha) is a young bride, in love with her husband Clem and pregnant with his child. They have moved west to settle and make their way. They have no land or home, just a wagon. Clem is killed in an accident with his horse, leaving Marty alone on the frontier. As the neighboring homesteaders come to help bury her husband, Marty sits in shock.

Clark, one of her new neighbors, bashfully and with great price, asks Marty if she will marry him. He knows she is all alone and he cannot offer her shelter if they are not married. Clark as a one year old daughter that he needs a mother for. If Marty agrees they will be married by the visiting preacher before he leaves the settlement. She will be the mother to Missy. Clark will move from the house into a lean-to. He will let Marty leave in the spring and take Missy when the time comes, if she decides not to stay.

Marty of course struggles with the loss of Clem and becoming an instant mother and wife to a stranger. Clark is a good and kind man that is supportive and positive. He is soft spoken and gentle with Marty as she learns about running a home and farm. He teaches her about God, whom she comes to love.

Marty meets the neighbors and learns to love and rely on them. Clark finally realizes that Marty is pregnant with Clem's baby and makes arrangements for her to be cared for when her time comes. Clark takes the baby as his own just as Marty did for Missy. Clark and Marty become increasingly comfortable with each other as they struggle on the western front. They make it through the destruction of their barn and much of their grain. They see through the death of a dear neighbor. Clark and Marty plant a garden and care for their children, adding more rooms onto their home. Finally when their new son nearly dies by accident, the two realize that love has finally come to them.

Sweet story. I can see why they are popular. I sometimes felt like Marty didn't give Clark a chance and thought poorly of him when he was trying to be supportive of their predicament. My biggest complaint is the speech. I'm not saying Oke made a mistake in the way she chose to have her characters talk, but it was very distracting for me to read.

Would be very interested to see the movie version.

Rating 3.5 Sweet
Rating G Great clean read

The Introvert Advantage How to Thrive in an Extrovert World

The Intorvert Advantage By Marti Olsen Laney Psy.D.

Well I'm here to establish myself as an innie in a world of outies. Yes my belly button is inverted but that's not so much what I mean. I have an introverted personality. This is not news to me but it may be t0 you. I have never felt weird or different or like there is something wrong with me although I have been called stuck up, distant, quiet, shy, rude, conceited, indifferent, the list goes on.

I just picked up this book that has been recommended to me various times. It's about introverted personalities and their difference from extroversion. Extroversion is the most common personality 3 to 1. Most of the world is geared towards extroversion.Jason always says that I hate people. In fact I have probably said the same thing. What is really hate is groups of people. I can tolerate a few very close friends (like 2) and still feel comfortable. After the group spills over about three people I get anxious and quiet and stop talking. Apparently this doesn't sit well with the extroverts.

Introversion versus extroversion has more to do with how each of us regains our energy. Extroverts like to socialize and do exciting things, go out with lots of friends, be with people most of their down time. They expend energy. Introverts need to recharge with alone time, quiet time or time spent with a select few. They conserve energy.

I laughed my way through the book because even though I feel normal and I like my personality trait, I didn't realize that there were many others that felt the same way. I took the quiz, along with Bob, Superman and Princess Mimsy. I am an extreme introvert. The only extrovert tendencies that I scored were testing well, and I don't blank out too often when speaking. Bob is an extreme introvert. Superman is an extreme extrovert (he gets all of his people time teaching, traveling the state, playing ball, and at work). Princess Mimsy is also an extreme extrovert. She would love to have groups of people at our house all of the time. She is unfazed by social conversation and chit chat.

Besides introversion I am also left brained, shy, and sensitive. I know many people think shy and introvert mean the same thing but they don't. There are shy extroverts (too bad for them!). Shyness has more to do with you thinking about other people thinking negatively about you. Sensitivity runs a large gamut.....sound, light, noise, movement, smell, intuition, emotion, weather, temperature.Also sometimes my short term memory is blitzed if I am nervous when hearing something but I have great long term memory and can remember being as young as 1 year old. My testing is not too bad such as multiple choice or essay (many introverts have short term memory issues because of being overwhelmed and have problems with multiple choice testing) because I can usually recall things that I see.....somewhat photographic memory.

I am protective of my quality and quantity time with loved ones. I prefer to be with just one or two friends having meaningful time or conversation. I am Nazi about my alone time with Superman. I do not like it interrupted or sacrificed to other things. I love time spent with just my family. By the end of the day or when I feel incredibly taxed by external events I need to be alone or with just one person. I usually find myself taking a lot of baths and ripping through books when I am highly anxious. It is the way I zone out.

I think many people could probably recognize that I may have introverted tendencies. Lots of people don't believe me when I say that I am shy. And I don't think that I am seen as sensitive. I have learned fairly well in the last 13 years to live in an extrovert world. I can act like an extrovert if I have to, I just don't FEEL like one. I can teach a group, run a convention, be the boss, talk on the phone, go to large gathering. I may get grouchy after a prolonged time though because feeling anxious will eventually lead to that. I keep my sensitivity to myself because as an introvert I do not like being emotional or sharing intuition with many.

So if you find me curled up with a book, not making idle chit chat, or curled up with a book.....I still like you, but you might have to approach first.

My Innie tendencies!.........................
*When I need rest I like time alone or with one or two people. No groups!
* People think I am quiet, aloof, stuck up .......etc .
* I like to share special occasions with one person or a few close friends. No big parties!
* I notice detail.
* I can feel tension between others easily.
* If I say I will do something I will do it. (I thought more people were like this! I was surprised to find out that they aren't.)
* I feel anxious about deadlines or upcoming events. I lose sleep easily.
* I want to go away and zone out when I am overwhelmed.
* I like to watch activities before I join. I have to scope everything out and will generally stand back unless invited. I will almost NEVER invite myself or join without recognition from the group.
* I form lasting relationships.......but with only a few people. I have an easy time letting go of friends or acquaintances that don't take time to understand or like my personality. Because I am sensitive I take it pretty hard but I don 't chase down interaction......probably appears that I am aloof and don't care. In fact I've had that mentioned to me, but I just read a book and it gets all better :)
* I don't like interrupting. This has a lot to do with why I will not make idle social calls (drop by) and why I hate calling people on the telephone.
* I do not like overstimulating environments. I don't like going out on holidays where many others are out. I do not like crowded theaters where you have to sit next to others you don't know. I do not like large parties or dances. Do I go to these things? Yes. I don't like anticipating them but once I am there I'm okay for awhile....especially if I have someone to hang on to.*I have strong reactions to smell, taste, weather, light, movement.......
* I feel drained after social situations even when I really enjoyed them.
* I prefer to be introduced instead of introducing (one of my rude behaviors.....I will almost never introduce.)
* I am grouchy in anticipation of a social event, even ones I want to attend. It drives my family......Superman, crazy.
* I like people in my home but am overwhelmed by numbers and extensive time.
* I HATE making telephone calls.......still do it, getting better, still HATE it.
* I will not show my work or ideas until fully formulated much of the time. Uber perfectionism is a huge downfall of mine.......and I expect the same thing from others.......bad, bad, bad.

I have really enjoyed the book though. I wasn't surprised about what I learned.......I was surprised other people felt the same way. So do yourself if you are introvert, or someone else who is, a favor.....read it! If I were an extrovert parent with an introvert child I would definitely read this before another day passed........you'll be doing them a great service if you understand they can't be like you and they are not unhappy because of their introversion.

Awesome innies.......Einstein, Lincoln, Julia Roberts, Hitchcock, Edison, Piglet.

Are you an innie or an outie?

Rating 5 Super enlightening! Fun to find out the truth.
Rating G

Far From Home Children of the Promise #3

Far From Home Children of the Promise Vol. 3 by Dean Hughes



The Thomases are still a war torn family. President Thomas is grating on my nerves with his holier than thou attitude.....but I also see where he is coming from.....sometimes. Sister Thomas is standing up to him......go Bea.

Alex is still in the heat of the battle near the front lines. It is winter 1945 and things are miserable for every soldier. Along with the battle the cold is tearing them up. Alex is freezing and fight for most of this book. He loses one of his men that reminds him of Gene........he finally has enough feeling left to cry. Alex finds out at the end of the book that he and Anna will be parents.

Bobbi rarely hears from Richard. She remains close to Ishi (an AJA in her ward) and her children as they also wait for news of Daniel, their husband and father. Bobbi finds herself tiring of Afton (her friend and roommate). Afton has found love in Sam, a Hawaiian. She leads him on for awhile knowing that he feels deeply for her but that she will not marry him because of their racial differences. Bobbi learns that Richard's ship has been sunk near the Philippines. She waits for so long to hear from him that she fears he is dead. Richard is finally rescued and sent back to the hospital at Pearl Harbor where Bobbi is stationed. He and Bobbi decide they do love each other and want to get married. Bobbi will soon be leaving on a naval hospital ship.

Wally is a POW in Japan. Conditions are still terrible for him. He is working in coal mines. The Japanese are under pressure to mine the coal and are horrendous to the prisoners. Wally and the other POW's suffer from extreme conditions, little food, disease, unsanitary situations, and the wrath of the Japanese. Wally struggles to get his hatred under control.

LaRue is only fifteen but acting much older. She has begun volunteering at the USO. She dances and flirts with the soldiers leading them to believe she is not just fifteen. Ned, a soldier from Hill Field falls in love with LaRue. Despite President Thomas' urging and harsh criticism LaRue cannot get enough of the attention she is attracting from the older boys. When Ned professes his love and asks LaRue to marry him before he is shipped out to the battle, LaRue has to come clean about her age. Ned is enraged but he loves her so much he asks her to wait for him while he is at war. She agrees to write to him but will not become engaged. She is also flirting like wild fire with the boys her age. LaRue begins to realize that she doesn't like what she is turning into.

The Stoltz's are separated. Anna and her mother are in London. Father has joined the Allied forces and is spying for then against the Nazi's in Germany. He is also hopeful that he will be able to locate Peter. Peter is caught by the Gestapo. He runs. In an effort to hide from then he finds that he must join the army even though he hates the Nazi's and what they are doing to Germany and the other nations. Conditions for the German troops fighting the Russians are horrid. Peter and the other boys are so young. They are freezing and starving. Peter and his last friend are sick and wounded. They finally make it to a hospital where Peter's friend Hans dies. Peter can take no more. He goes AWOL and joins fleeing refugees in hopes that he will not be caught. He is determined to never kill again even if it means forfeiting his own life.

This is another great addition to the already great series. I have loved watching Wally and the other POW's struggle with their determination to quell their hatred and find a way to forgive the Japanese. Also Alex and Peter are able to show that even though a nation may be wicked, not all of the people in the nation are. Despite desperate times and evil in the world, good can still be found in individuals.

Rating 5
Rating PG 13 War, violence, violent death, injury, hatred.