War Stories by Gordon Korman

Twelve-year-old Trevor Firestone is on a weekend access visit with his father Daniel and his great-grandfather Jacob Firestone in Marlborough, Connecticut. He lives with his mother, stepfather and twin half sisters, seeing his dad every other weekend. Trevor loves everything war related, mainly because his great-grandfather, Jacob Firestone fought in World War II. Private First Class Jacob Firestone of Bravo Company was awarded a Bronze Star by the French for his part in liberating a small village in France from the Nazis.

Jacob, whom Trevor affectionately calls G.G., has told Trevor many stories of his time fighting the Nazis in France. This has led to Trevor becoming almost obsessed with war, especially World War II. "He played video games about it, read books, watched movies, built models. Both his rooms... were plastered with posters commemorating military units and major battles."

Their lives change forever when a letter from the village council of Sainte-Regine in France arrives, inviting PFC Jacob Firestone, the last surviving participant of the Battle of Sainte-Regine to a commemoration ceremony in the town in May. G.G. was to be the guest of honour. Although Daniel believes his grandfather is too old to attend, G.G. is determined to go.

Trevor and his great-grandfather plan out their trip to include the entire route G.G. took from his "basic training in Georgia, to England for staging, and across the English Channel for the invasion of Normandy on D-Day." They will also follow his route through France to Sainte-Regine and they will attend the seventy-fifth anniversary of V-E Day at Reims.

However, while Trevor is excited for the trip and the part his hero great-grandfather will play in it, his father, Daniel is concerned. The Sainte-Regine Facebook page about the ceremony has a comment on it by Vive le Verite (Long Live the Truth) stating that Jacob Firestone is no hero and is not welcome. Jacob doesn't seemed surprised nor does he offer any explanation. Both Daniel and Jacob decide not to tell Trevor.

But when they land in Normandy and as they travel throughout France, Trevor notices two young French teens seem to be everywhere they are. Not only that but the tires on their rental car are slashed.

It soon becomes apparent that the liberation of Sainte Regine is not quite what G.G. has portrayed to his family. Confronted by the past,  G.G. must tell the truth to Trevor and Daniel. Along the way, two families, one French and one American experience forgiveness, healing and the revelation for Trevor that there is no glory in war.

Discussion

War Stories by acclaimed children's author, Gordon Korman is a novel that explores the theme of war through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy, Trevor Firestone and also through the experiences of a seventeen-year-old soldier. Trevor adores his great-grandfather Jacob Firestone who enlisted as a seventeen-year-old and fought in World War II. Jacob was in Bravo Company and as an infantryman saw the realities of war: pain, death and massive destruction. However, this reality is lost on Trevor who sees only glory in war.

Korman utilizes a dual narrative to tell his story. The first narrative is set in the present (the year 2020) and tells of Trevor and his family, including his great-grandfather, a World War II Veteran as they travel through France at attend a ceremony honouring his great-grandfather's role in liberating a French town during World War II. The second narrative set in 1943 to 1944 as a young Private Jacob Firestone, part of Bravo Company fights its way across France. The two narratives are juxtaposed against one another, describing events in the same locales, 76 year apart. Korman uses both narratives to make his point about war - it's ugly, destructive and is not to be glorified.

Through Jacob's narrative, set in 1944 as he battles his way onto the beach at Normandy and through France, the reality of war is never far away.  Seven weeks into his time as a soldier, Jacob is already overwhelmed by the reality of war his training never really prepared him for."When Jacob closed his eyes, the picture of what bullets or shrapnel could do to a human being was never far away. He had already seen more death than he'd ever imagined possible. And more blood - it was hard to believe there could be so much of it. At times, he had found himself surrounded by so many bodies - from both sides in this war - that it became difficult to remember that these had once been people. Brothers and sons. Husbands and fathers and friends." He loses some of his best friends and sees the vast destruction war causes.

In Trevor's narrative, set in 2020, Trevor comes to learn more about the realities of war as his family travels through France, revisiting the locations of battles G.G. encountered. In the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Normandy, France, his father points out that "Battles may look glamorous in movies and on posters, but this is what's what's left over once the smoke clears away." To Trevor they are heroes, but his father Daniel points out, "They were kids,...Not much older than you, when you think about it. Every single one of these graves is more than a life lost. It's a family torn apart and generations that will never be born. Look at your great-grandfather.If he'd been killed in the war, neither of us would be standing here right now. Not to mention your kids, and their kids, and so on..."

Despite this Trevor remains convinced of the glory of war and he can't "...wait to hear the full story of how Bravo Company had liberated Sainte-Regine. It was going to be epic!"  Their travels through the various towns that G.G. fought to liberate help Trevor to understand that the video games he plays don't accurately portray the realities of war. Tanks don't blow through obstacles, they break down or are destroyed by enemies. Each battle won, each acre of land gained represents lost lives on both sides and destroyed villages and towns. The reality of the devastation caused by war is driven home when they visit Saint Lo, a town G.G. describes as being "flat as a pancake" by the time the Germans are forced out. 

However, the reality of war is really driven home when Trevor learns the truth of what happened during the liberation of Sainte Regine. His great-grandfather tells Trevor and his dad that he inadvertently revealed the location of a family, the LaFleurs, involved in the French Resistance - a mistake that led to the deaths of the entire family who had saved his life and nursed him back to health.

The revelation of what happened years ago leaves Trevor shocked but also with a different view of war.  "...he had always pictured war as a gigantic chess match, played by general, using pieces that represented armies. Everything went like clockwork. You executed your strategy, conquered territory, defeated your enemies." But what was missing in Trevor's image of war was the human cost; the villages destroyed simply because they were in the wrong place, a misplaced step that got a soldier killed or like his great-grandfather, a simple mistake that resuleds in the deaths of an entire family. War "....looked cool on a movie screen or in a video game. But when real lives were being lost, snuffed out by sheer random chance, there was no glory." 

War Stories is also about forgiveness and redemption.  Jacob Firestone has carried the scars of war with him through his entire life.  At the ceremony honoring him for his role in the liberation of Sainte Regine, Jacob is confronted by Rene LaFleur's descendants, Juliette and Philippe and acknowledges his costly mistake. With the help of Trevor who points out to Juliette that his great-grandfather volunteered to come to liberate France and that he has suffered too, she is able to forgive. This forgiveness brings healing and ultimately unites the two families.

Jacob also finds redemption in an act of mercy he committed shortly after learning of the deaths of the LaFleur family.  He spared the life of a young German soldier outside the LaFleur farmhouse and meets that boy, now an old man like himself. "...the German showed photographs of his wife, their three children, seven grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren."  Puzzled as to why his great-grandfather is lingering over the pictures, Trevor realizes what his father tried to explain to him earlier in the trip about the cost of war, "...None of those people would ever have been born if G.G. had done his duty and killed this man so many years ago. A snap decision -- a moment of mercy -- and all those lives became suddenly possible."

War Stories is a thoughtful novel that explores the themes of war, forgiveness, mercy and redemption. Well-written by veteran author Gordon Korman, it is a timely novel that encourages young readers to think about how war impacts soldiers and civilians and the lessons we might learn from previous wars. Ironically, Korman could not have known there would be a world wide pandemic in 2020 and so Trevor and his family's trip to France could not have happened in April and May. But in the world of fiction, anything can happen! Although Korman's Sainte Regine is fictional, Operation Overlord  - the Battle of Normandy was not. A map showing the general locations in the US, England and France would be helpful to young readers.

Highly recommended.

You can read about the invention of the Higgins boat from the Smithsonian Magazine.

Book Details:

War Stories by Gordon Korman
New York: Scholastic Press      2020
231 pp.