Margaret’s brother, Jimmy is fighting in the war Hitler started. The brother of Margaret’s best friend, Elizabeth is also fighting in the war. While the girls’ brothers are fighting, the girls are also fighting with a bully, Gordy, but then, they get to know that Gordy’s brother, Stuart deserted and is hiding in the woods. Stuart couldn’t return home because he will be sent back, and Gordy’s father will beat him up. Gordy tries his best to take care of Stuart, but Stuart gets sick and weak. Margaret and Elizabeth thinks of Barbara, a kind women who lost her husband in war, and Barbara helps Stuart get better by making him stay in her house. While that is happening, Gordy and his family is beaten by Gordy’s father a lot. Once Gordy and his sister ran away to the woods which they go usually to play. Unfortunately, Margaret’s mother finds them while cutting trees for firewood, gets to know what is happening and goes to Gordy’s house to talk to his mother. It turns out that even Gordy’s mother is afraid to tell the cops about Gordy’s father and violence. A lot of things happened to Gordy, and because of that there was a decrease of his visits to Stuart, which Stuart also noticed. Stuart gets to know that and goes home to talk to his father, and things get silent for a while. Meanwhile, Margaret heads home talking and laughing with Elizabeth. As soon as she opened the door, she could feel that something was wrong. Her parents were reading a telegram and were crying. Everyone knew what that meant. Now, Jimmy’s blue star, which meant that he was fighting, was changed into a gold one. Jimmy was killed in action. Margaret just couldn’t believe it. She would never see her brother again, ever.
At school, Gordy was absent. Gordy’s friends were worried because Mr. Smith’s black ford was still parked in the garage, but no one answered the doorbell. One day, Margaret and Elizabeth saw an ambulance and a police car on the sidewalk of Gordy’s house. Gordy’s father was pulled out of the house and was shoved into the police car while Stuart was shoved into an ambulance on a stretcher.
It seemed like everything was fine now, but no, Margaret’s family wouldn’t be the same as usual, without Jimmy.
This book talks about 2 ideas, which are is war a right thing, and is helping a deserter a right thing. Stuart had mentioned that war is a wrong thing, and I also agree with it. Do you know the story, Romeo and Juliet? In that story, the two families didn’t really war, but their relationship was like war enemies. This relationship led to Romeo and Juliet’s death, which is why war is wrong. Well, yes, this is not related a lot to war, so I will tell you another story. In Korea’s history, there is a sad story of a couple who were the prince and the princess of countries which were fighting. In the princess’s country, there are instruments which look like a giant drum and a trumpet that tells if enemies are coming, which made it impossible for other countries to conquer. The prince promised the princess that if she breaks the instruments, he will conquer her country, let the people of the princess’s country live a good life, and live happily with the princess. The princess agreed and did it, but was found by her father, and she asked her father to kill herself because of betraying her country. To inform you, I tell you again that this is because of war. This is why I think war is not a right thing. Also, I think helping a deserter is wrong. Think of the other soldiers fighting in war even though they’re not sure if they would come home alive. They also have a family waiting for them to come, while the deserter is getting your help and resting. I think this is not fair, which is why helping a deserter is wrong.
I think this book makes me think a lot about war, violence, help, and support. It may sound boring, but really, it is not!
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