{"product_id":"soldiers-heart-isbn-9780440228387","title":"Soldier's Heart","description":"In June 1861, when the Civil War began, Charley Goddard enlisted in the First Minnesota Volunteers. He was 15. He didn't know what a \"shooting war\" meant or what he was fighting for. But he didn't want to miss out on a great adventure.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe \"shooting war\" turned out to be the horror of combat and the wild luck of survival; how it feels to cross a field toward the enemy, waiting for fire. When he entered the service he was a boy. When he came back he was different; he was only 19, but he was a man with \"soldier's heart,\" later known as \"battle fatigue.\" \"A stark, utterly persuasive novel of combat life in the Civil War that may well challenge generations of middle-school readers.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Paulsen's storytelling is so psychologically true that readers will feel they have lived through Charley's experience.\"--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The nightmare of the Civil War comes to the pages in this novel from Paulsen . . . based on the real-life experiences of a young enlistee.\"--\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, Pointer \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The novel's spare, simple language and vivid visual images of brutality and death on the battlefield make it accessible and memorable to young people.\"--\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e, StarredGary Paulsen is the author of more than 100 books.            \u003cbr\u003e            He heard it all, Charley did; heard the drums and songs and slogans \u003cbr\u003e            and knew what everybody and his rooster was crowing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e            There was going to be a shooting war. They were having town meetings \u003cbr\u003e            and nailing up posters all over Minnesota and the excitement was so \u003cbr\u003e            high Charley had seen girls faint at the meetings, just faint from \u003cbr\u003e            the noise and hullabaloo. It was better than a circus. Or what he \u003cbr\u003e            thought a circus must be like. He'd never seen one. He'd never seen \u003cbr\u003e            anything but Winona, Minnesota, and the river five miles each way \u003cbr\u003e            from town. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e            There would be a shooting war. There were rebels who had violated \u003cbr\u003e            the law and fired on Fort Sumter and the only thing they'd respect \u003cbr\u003e            was steel, it was said, and he knew they were right, and the Union \u003cbr\u003e            was right, and one other thing they said as well--if a man didn't \u003cbr\u003e            hurry he'd miss it. The only shooting war to come in a man's life \u003cbr\u003e            and if a man didn't step right along he'd miss the whole thing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e            Charley didn't figure to miss it. The only problem was that Charley \u003cbr\u003e            wasn't rightly a man yet, at least not to the army. He was fifteen \u003cbr\u003e            and while he worked as a man worked, in the fields all of a day and \u003cbr\u003e            into night, and looked like a man standing tall and just a bit thin \u003cbr\u003e            with hands so big they covered a stove lid, he didn't make a beard \u003cbr\u003e            yet and his voice had only just dropped enough so he could talk with \u003cbr\u003e            men.\u003cbr\u003e            If they knew, he thought, if they knew he was but fifteen they wouldn't \u003cbr\u003e            take him at all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e            But Charley watched and Charley listened and Charley learned.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e            \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e            ","brand":"Laurel Leaf","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305257521381,"sku":"NP9780440228387","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780440228387.jpg?v=1767736883","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/soldiers-heart-isbn-9780440228387","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}