Frances O’Roark Dowell.  Shooting the Moon.  Antheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008.  163 pages.  Age 9 to 12.

Warning 1:  Do not hand this book to a child who still believes in Santa.  Totally debunked.  That, and perhaps a novel dealing with war, even superficially, may be a poor match for a still-believer.

Warning 2:  Me + Book Dealing w/ Military = Dicey

Jamie Dexter, the 12-year-old combat-ready Colonel’s daughter, describes herself as “Army through and through.”  Hooah, yes sir.  Her older brother just passed up college for a tour of Vietnam, and Jamie thinks he’s made the Right Decision—that is, until he starts sending her rolls of film in lieu of letters.  It’s hard to argue with a photograph.

The key reveal in this story isn’t just a “war is horrible” loss of innocence, though.  Jamie must reconcile with the fact that her father is a hypocrite.  That’s may be too strong a word; it’s possible that the Colonel has been unhappy with his career for years, and Jamie has missed or ignored those cues.  But hypocrisy is not an unfitting term for someone who tries to finagle his son out of combat after signing other soldiers’ orders for years.

The language in this novel is stunning.  The word “crafted” comes to mind.  I actually wanted to do away with the first chapter, so that it would open with this line:

“We were stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, a flat piece of real estate that threatened to burst into flames every afternoon from June to September.”

But it doesn’t quite work, because the story is already expertly paced and sequenced.  In fact, I can’t think of one bad thing to say about it.

I could never read a book about war when I was younger, even into my high school years.  I had this conversation with my mother, somewhere around age 15:

Me:  (putting down Slaughterhouse-Five)  I cannot read this.  Too much war.
Mom:  You do realize that’s an anti-war novel, right?
Me:  (urgent, insistent, nearly interrupting)  Too much war!

Since then, I’m happy to report that I’ve grown a metaphorical pair, and can now tolerate and even enjoy anti-war fiction, but it’s always an aching endeavor, at least when it’s done right.  Shooting the Moon is that kind of story.

other reviews:
100 Scope Notes | The Book Club Shelf | Eva’s Book Addiction | A Fuse #8 Production | The Reading Zone | A Year of Reading