A chilling story about a boy's fantasy that he is reliving a past war. He enjoys the adventure until he becomes the enemy. Harry is flattered when a group of older boys invite him to participate in their game of war on Thatcher Island. His elation disappears when the game takes a terrifying turn and he discovers that he himself is capable of cruelty. A young girl travels from the Russian sector of defeated Germany to Cologne.
Story combines adventure with powerful statement about devastation of war.
It includes hope, showing how one young girl survives. G rade 5-9. War erupts between the pets and the garden animals because of fear-induced mispreceptions and leadership which incites animosity. The hostilities cease when the unbiased facts come to light. The only ones not captured when the Japanese take over their Aleutian island village during World War II, two children save the life of a Japanese soldier and find that love is stronger than hatred.