![]() ![]() “Sexual Violence, an Invisible War Crime: Sierra Leone Truth Commission Condemns Abuse, Discrimination. “Global Feminist Profile: Mariatu Kamara.” Gender Across Borders: a Global Feminist Blog. ( Search: child soldiers children of conflict Sierra Leone “Beyond the Fire: Teen Experiences of War.” ITVS Interactive - īBC World Service. BBC World Service. “Angelina Jolie’s Story.” What’s Going On. Is a child better off in poverty in his/her homeland, or with a life of plenty elsewhere? What are the cultural ramifications of cross-culture adoptions? How might you handle this situation from Matt’s point-of-view? From the other children’s point-of-view? What can/should/might adults do to help young adults or children overcome these types of prejudice and resentment? Matt encounters prejudice from other children in his school who blame him for the loss their families experienced because of the war. When she put Matt on the helicopter transport do you think Matt’s mother made the best choice for him? For the family? For his brother? In this story, almost all of the characters have been “disfigured” or changed in some way by the war. Young Adult LIbrary Services Association Best Books for Young Adults, 2010īulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May 1, 2009Ĭan Matt manage to make peace with his past so he can embrace his future? Or are the two so intertwined that they are one and the same?ĭiscuss how you feel about this quote from the book, "Words are messy, but sometimes, words are all you've got to show what matters most." =1640149541&bcpid=1640149541&bclid=1557820328&bctid=22173406001īooklist Editors' Choice, Books for Youth (Older Readers), 2009īooklist Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth, 2009Ĭhildren’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards Cybils Finalist, 2009 This booktalk was written by Joni Richards Bodart, university professor, librarian, consultant, and internationally known booktalking expert. Men and boys broken because of a war that never should have happened-if they can see each other, talk to each other, perhaps they can finally begin to heal.įrom:. Boys who remember fathers and older brothers who never came home, who see only their own pain, and ignore the pain of others. Vets who remember Matt’s Vietnam all too well, the mother and little brother Matt can’t forget. Sometimes we hang onto the past so hard that we can’t see how to move ahead into the future. A rice paddy with a rat drawn on it, and underneath “Matt-the-Rat.” Coach is angry, but nothing changes. The next day, Matt makes the team, and there’s a picture taped to his locker. But when he does, Matt can hear the whispers from the other players. Matt and his now dad play catch, and his dad tells Matt he should try out for the team. In the middle of the night, when he’s jolted awake by his dreams of screams and flashes, his now mother sits on his bed and sings to him, as he thinks, Ten years later, Matt’s mother pushed him into a swarm of children around the American helicopters, telling him he had to leave her and his little brother to go to America, where he’d be safe, even if he was alone. In Vietnam, before he was born, his blue-eyed father hugged the woman who called him husband, stroked her pregnant stomach, and told her, “I’ll be back.” But he never returned. You can only turn around and summon the courage to face it. You can’t escape your past, it always follows you. Two years after being airlifted out of Vietnam in 1975, Matt Pin is haunted by the terrible secret he left behind and, now, in a loving adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events forces him to confront his past. Publishing Information : Scholastic Press: New York, 2009 ![]()
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