Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam

For some time, my struggling readers (especially boys) have been drawn to this book, and I've encouraged it because I know that Walter Dean Myers is a great writer. Now that I've finally read it myself, I think the art is just as powerful as the verse. Myer's words vividly describe jungles, tension, fear, and guilt, but Ann Grifalconi's collages ratchet up each feeling several notches. They mingle the beauty of the natural world with the horrifying images of firefights and raids on civilians. When the soldier says "I'm so very tired of war", we need only look at her collage to know it's true. And there is no hope on the horizon--just a blood-red sky.

Patrol : an American soldier in Vietnam is an exceptional example of historical fiction based on the experiences of its author, Walter Dean Myers, who served in Vietnam and whose brother served and died there. The title character’s poetic narration recounts a single day’s events during a squadron patrol in the jungles of Vietnam. The verse is as staccato like the halting hike through the jungles and the reports of rifles. Via poetry and collage, the reader journeys to the steaming jungle, rice paddies, and a Vietnamese village. The “enemy” is humanized and exposed as old men and women, mothers and babies, and young men very much like the narrator himself. The convergence of image and poetry is inspired transporting the reader to show more a time, place, and war which remain very relevant today. The collages of photographs, drawings, paintings and leaves encapsulate the iconography of the Vietnam War. Notwithstanding its resemblance to a picture book, Patrol is historical fiction on a painful period in American history intended for older elementary readers. Would make an excellent introductory reading for a social studies unit on the Vietnam War. show less

What can I say about this book other than it's so well done, in both the story and the art. First, the art is layered, but it's done in a way that almost too obvious and "simple" but it works. It's a bit of a daze to look at because of that. Second, the story is great. The refrain "the enemy" over and over again really does a good job of driving the point home. The last page about writing a letter to someone he loves, and wondering about his enemy, was the emotional punch that the story needed.

This book follows a U.S. soldier into the boonies in Vietnam. He contemplates the wildlife around him and the similarities he shares with the man "over there" who is is "enemy."

This book is rather intense and sharply conveys the sense of fear and sadness which follow soldiers around as they navigate the horrors of war. I share it carefully, with select students who I believe are ready to begin confronting the less glorious aspects of war--I find it particularly relevant for children of our current time to begin to look at these realities and not simply see them as exciting, action movie/video game experiences.

I read this as a companion to "Fallen Angels" and found it to be more engaging. The poetry of the narrative and the artwork of the illustrations seem to capture the urgency and tension associated with having an enemy in your sites and all of the psychological trauma that entails.

This picture book is told from the perspective of an American Soldier fighting the Vietnam War. Told as a story-poem and illustrated in collage, the soldier questions what the war is for, and who his enemy really is. Definitely an anti-war sentiment, so considered controversial. I really like this book.

In this narrative, an American solider is telling of his experience during the Vietnam War. He is frighten, and all he is wishing for is that he makes it out alive. He writes that at one point he is trying to shoot the enemy, but that perhaps, he is the enemy. He comes face to face with the enemy, but when he realizes how young the man is, he doe not have the heart to shoot him. He places himself in the other soldier's shoes. That's when he begins to question himself about the enemy. The war does eventually end and he makes it home safe. He begins to wonder if the 'enemy' makes it home safe as well. I would use this book in a social studies class. I may ask them to write about they might feel as a solider at war. For grades 3-6