A gripping novel about the D-Day invasion during World War II follows a young soldier named Woody. Woody's experience during the invasion and the days and weeks immediately following offer a gut-wrenching look at a soldier's life. Moments of intense anxiety, such as just before Woody enters the water during the invasion, and the confusion and frenzy of battle are especially compelling, but no less telling is Woody's complete disconnect from reality when it comes to measuring time and distance. So when Woody and his unit have been battling for weeks he's sure it's months, and when he's certain they must be miles inland from the French coast, it turns out to be a distance that would be almost meaningless on a map during any other time but war. Friendships may be measured in days; courage can be a quiet thing. Woody occasionally runs into Marcus Parry, an African American friend from home who's a truck driver in an all-Black support unit. Myers not only touches on the racism and limited opportunities for Black soldiers at this time, but Marcus becomes a measure of how much Woody has changed over the course of weeks when he doesn't even recognize Woody near story's end. (Age 13 and older)

Walter Dean Myers brilliantly renders the realities of World War II.

Josiah Wedgewood and Marcus Perry are on their way to an uncertain future. Their whole lives are ahead of them, yet at the same time, death's whisper is everywhere. One white, one black, these young men have nothing in common and everything in common as they approach an experience that will change them forever. It's May 1944. World War II is ramping up, and so are these young recruits, ready and eager. In small towns and big cities all over the globe, people are filled with fear. When Josiah and Marcus come together in what will be the greatest test of their lives, they learn hard lessons about race, friendship, and what it really means to fight. Set on the front lines of the Normandy invasion, this novel, rendered with heart-in-the-throat precision, is a cinematic masterpiece. Here we see the bold terror of war, and also the nuanced havoc that affects a young person's psyche while living in a barrack, not knowing if today he will end up dead or alive.