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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

A landmark book offers a logical, gripping, easy-to-follow story about the illogic of war, using Vietnam for the setting and U.S. teenagers as most of the characters. Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry is the African-American protagonist whose medical papers don't catch up with him before he's shipped overseas. Although the war at home is revealed in letters the soldiers send and receive, almost all of the episodes occur in the jungle during tedious hours occasionally interrupted by minutes of sheer terror and chaos. Realistic elements include graphic scenes of military/civilian violence; tragic events of loss or betrayal; and a mild representation of the language of soldiers experiencing these events. Myers chose not to emphasize drug use and sexual activity in what seems to be an effortlessly woven plot peopled with believable characters and relieved with interludes of humor. He also resisted moralizing, but the highly moral core of the novel is evident throughout; along with Richie Perry's humanity and bravery, this morality will be remembered long after readers finish the book. Winner, 1988 CCBC Newbery Discussion. (Age 11 and older)

CCBC Choices 1988 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1988. Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

April 30, 1989
A tour of duty for a young soldier in Vietnam is vividly presented in Myers's exceptional novel. Ages 13-up.

From Publisher's Weekly

April 25, 1988
Like A Rumor of War, Brothers, and the film Platoon, this tells the story of Vietnam from the foot soldier's point of view. Myers accomplishes his heartbreaking intent by pacing the book to mirror the grunt's life. The plot is simply a soldier's life from the day he arrives "in country" to the day he is flown back to "the World." Vietnam is, for one bright black teenager named Richard Perry, days of numbing tedium, racial tension, Army SNAFUs, and rumors of peace punctuated by moments of near hallucinatory terror, violence, agony and loss. What matters? Surviving 365 days; and love for his comradesloudmouthed and funny Peewee Gates, Johnson the brawny, deadly machine gunner, white buddies Monaco and Lobel, and Lieutenant Carroll (who, like many real-life officers in Vietnam, cares more about his men than promotions). Other authors have gotten the details right, but Myers (Crystal, Motown & Didi) reaches into the minds of the soldiers and readers are startled to remember that these were teenagers, thrown into hideous battle against other teenagers (and their families), surrounded by an enemy that was all-pervasive and invisible. Readers, including those born after the fall of Saigon, will hear the morbid music of those wordsChu Lai, Khe Sanh, Phuoc Ha, medevac, hot LZ, Tetand in Perry and his buddies (especially Peewee, one of this year's great creations) they will reel from the human consequences of battle. A worthy memorial for brother Thomas Wayne "Sonny" Myers, KIA May 7, 1968, the Nam. Ages 13-up.

From AudioFile Magazine

J.D. Jackson brings listeners directly into the jungles of Vietnam with 17-year-old African-American Richie Perry and his fellow soldiers in Walter Dean Myers's classic story of boys and war. Death is an inevitable companion, bringing the pain of loss and a longing to return to "the world," no matter how difficult it may have been. Jackson ably navigates the rough language, racism, and xenophobia that are the realities of the story. A few production missteps do not detract from the deep bonds that form among the boys as they struggle to keep themselves alive despite the ineptitude and hubris of army leadership. Once again, we journey into the incomprehensible landscape of war. S.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine