Grenade

Grenade
Alan Gratz
Scholastic, 2018 255 pages
Grades 7-Up
Historical Fiction

A gristly account of the final battle of World War II as seen through the ideas of two young participants. Ray, a barely-grown American private, and Hideki, a local teenager, narrate two different perspectives of the bloody and lengthy Battle of Okinawa on an island off the coast of Japan. Ray is new to war and this late battle is his first. Together with his company he learns the ropes, encounters terrible moments with both civilians and Japanese soldiers, and sees a comrade die before his eyes, before he falls into trouble of his own. Hideki is a student drafted into a last-ditch civilian effort as Japan struggles to keep control of their holdings. Armed with two grenades, one to throw at the enemy and one to kill himself before the American get hold of him, Hideki is set loose to defend the island he calls home. As he struggles for survival, he has surprise reunions with family and friends and meets both kind and terribly damaged soldiers from both sides of the battle. Hideki watches as his beautiful island home is destroyed by war and he must decide what role he will play as the battle continues to unfold.

Coming straight off the heels of critically acclaimed Refuge, Gratz offers another frank look at the price of war and corrupt political bureaucracy. I often say that I know about the world because of reading children's books and this book helped to educate me about the Battle of Okinawa, about which I previously knew nothing. It was a terribly long and bloody battle, as historically detailed in an author's note in the back of the volume, and instrumental in ending the war with Japan. Gratz delivers a message against war, the price paid by both soldiers and civilians, and the way it turns ordinary people into monsters. The story was thoroughly researched and the message sound, yet this is not a story for children, who are the targeted age group. The book is extremely and violently graphic and people die in horrible ways. Civilian children are used as human shield for the Japanese and must strip naked to surrender to the American at gun point, as one child is shot. Grenade is best suited to teenagers, especially boys who may be reluctant readers. The action truly never stops and the anti-war message is one worth hearing. The publisher places this book for grades 3-7 and so I, as well as most of the libraries in my system, put it in the children's section. I plan on moving it to the teen section-if I can get my hands back on it, since it seems to be always checked out. Sure to be devoured by action-loving tweens/teens, yet caution should be exhibited by sensitive readers.