Grenade

[Olivia]

This book was such a stark representation of what World War ll was like for so many people. This book shows two sides of what the war was like on Okinawa. Hideki Kaneshiro, a fourteen year old boy from Okinawa, was forced to stay and fight in the war for the Japanese. Ray, an eighteen year old boy from America, volunteered to fight in the war, thinking that he would be fighting Hitler in Germany. But, he was sent to Okinawa to fight in the war there. Both boys have one thing in common, and that's that they're both fighting to survive. Hideki's home is being destroyed, and he is trying to search for his sister through all the fighting and death. Ray is trying to get through fighting in the war, and is trying to keep himself safe. But, when the two boys meet after running away from their own problems, Hideki uses his grenade and kills Ray. Now, with Ray's ghost haunting him, and the threat of death surrounding him, Hideki has to move on and continue to find his sister. What I liked about this book was that it showed two completely different perspectives on the war, and it didn't portray one side as being the evil ones. I just thought that there were a lot of unnecessary details in the story. Overall, I would rate this book a 4 out of 5.