Operation YES: Sara Lewis Holmes

This lively book for middle schoolers chronicles the classroom activities and excitement of a group of sixth graders in a school located on an air force base in the US. Their new teacher, Ms. Loupe, uses improvisational drama techniques to stimulate imagination and problem-solving in her students. Once they catch on, classroom energy changes and disinterested students perk up.
When Ms. Loupe's brother is missing in action in Afghanistan and later rescued as a wounded soldier, the class rallies on her behalf, and his. Drama in the classroom and the real life drama ever-present for military kids could be a compelling draw for readers.

Heart of a Shepherd by Roseanne Parry

Brother is a sensitive kid growing up on a ranch in Eastern Oregon with his dad and four older brothers. Their mom lives in Italy, estranged from her husband and kids.

Dad commands an Army reserve unit that is called up for Iraq, taking with it many of the young men in their part of the state. Brother has to "toughen up" to help Grandpa keep the ranch going. He takes his job very seriously, wanting the ranch to remain just as dad left it, in good hands, including his own. But circumstances and people change and Brother learns to go with the flow. He hopes that whatever he does, his hard work will ensure his dad's safe return.
But life rarely goes according to plan and crises arise.

This book will be of interest to middle school young people, particularly boys who are considering what it means to grow up when parents leave for temporary duty in the military.

(Published by Random House, 2009).

Off to War: Voices of Soldier's Children by Deborah Ellis

The author specializes in creating fiction and nonfiction which carries to her readers the voices of children throughout the world. These are some of her words about this important book:

"Beyond the financial and political costs of these(Iraq and Afghanistan) wars, there is a high human cost. Untold numbers of civilians living in Iraq and Afghanistan, including many children, have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives due to these wars....

But participating in a war as a soldier also carries a high cost. Part of that cost is being paid by the military families who are left behind, especially the children. As the wars drag on, deployments(time spent in war zones) are extended and repeated. Mothers and fathers are returning home altered by their experience of being involved in killing and surrounded by devastation, and sometimes finding their families changed, too in their absence."

OFF TO WAR contains mini-interviews with young children, ages 6-17, from Canada and the US. Their parents are in either the regular military or members of the Reserves and National Guard who have been deployed. The kids are honest about the negatives and positives of being a military kid. Kids in similar circumstances, but who have no one to talk to about it, will find this book refreshing.