In spare, almost biblical prose, Gary Paulsen writes of the horrors of combat in a Civil War novella that puts a powerful, more contemporary spin on Stephen Crane’s classic The Red Badge of Courage. Based on the life of a real boy, it tells the story of Charley Goddard, who lies his way into the Union Army at the age of 15. Charley has never been anyplace beyond Winona, Minnesota, and thinks war would be a great adventure. And it is–at first–as his regiment marches off through cheering crowds and pretty, flag-waving girls. But then comes the battle. Charley screams, “Make it stop now!” disbelieving that anything so horrible could be real. Paulsen is unsparing in the details of what actually happens on the battlefield: the living men suddenly blown into pieces, the agony and fear, the noise and terror, the stinking corpses. After many battles, Charley is wounded and sent home an old man before he is 20, his will to live destroyed by combat fatigue–leaving him with a “soldier’s heart.” Paulsen has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the ALAN Award, and several Newbery Honor awards for previous work, but this superb, small masterpiece transcends any of his earlier titles in its remarkable, memorable intensity and power. (Ages 12 to 15) –Patty Campbell
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Soldier’s Heart
Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulson
In the book Soldier’s Heart Charley Goddard, a fifteen year old living in Winona, Minnesota , hears about a “shooting war” that’s going to take place. Charley thinks that if a person doesn’t act quickly they would miss there chance to be a part of it. He talks his mother into allowing him to join the First Minnesota Volunteers. So in June 1861 Charley decided to take a little walk until he reached Fort Smelling, there he would lie about his age and join in with them.
After joining Charley quickly realizes that it is not as glamorous as he had imagined, all day everyday all the soldiers ever did was drills. Living off of coffee and hard beans Charley quickly begins thinking about deserting, until one day they were called into formation. They were ordered to march to the Mississippi River and on to a steam-boat. They then traveled by boat and train to Washington D.C. Charley was then in the Battle of Bull Run, as it was eventually named. Charley hardly fired a shot because of the overwhelming fire of the Confederates. That was the one part of the book that was fictitious; Charley was actually laid up with a case of dysentery during that battle but the rest was entirely true.
Later in the story Charley takes place in a battle near Richmond, Virginia where the rebels mount a charge using cavalry. The Union soldiers fire and take down every last horse crushing the Confederate charge. As it turns to dusk and smoke fills the air Charley loses his visibility and his sense of what direction to fire. He then kills several rebels and has the brim of his had and stock of his gun shot off. An officer then tells him that he is shot, but Charley didn’t feel anything. Charley has to walk back to the aid station to seek help. The surgeon looks at Charley’s shoulder and tells him that there is no would and that it is someone else’s blood. The surgeon tells Charley that he needs a wind block, and tells him to pile up the dead bodies and limbs to make a wall.
Soldier’s Heart is a very good book and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or any other type of good book.
Robert Harder
2 Stars This is a novel.
I bought this book thinking it was a true story for adults. It is a novel for elementary school children,it also is a very short book with large writing. It comes across as a biography.
4 Stars Original and thoguth provoking
As someone closely associated with the military, though not of it, I found Samet’s observations of the military life, thought processes and customs fascinating. It is often difficult for those outside the life to distinguish between our society’s idea of a soldier and individual soldiers themselves. We tend to believe that they are all cut of the same cloth — proud, honorable, bloodthirsty, fighting men — and tend to forget that the officer core includes poets, dreamers, and women as well.
Many of these ideas about what a soldier should be filter down to us through our literature and our movies. Samel makes a good case that it is possible to use those images to our advantage, by encouraging thought and discussion about where those stereotypes come from, how they differ from actual experience, and what they say about the moral choices officers must make.
Dulce et decorum est indeed.
5 Stars hard to explain
This book is a true story and it says so in the authors note. This book is very sad, interesting, and violent. It is about a 16 year old boy who heard of a shooting war. His name was Charley. He wanted to enlist for the army but they said that you must be 18 to go and enlist for the army that would take place in the shooting war. Charley lies about his age and gets in without question. He gets training and fights in the army and in the battles he fought in he learns what it really is like to be in the army. He learned that you always think you’re going to die. He learned that if someone is having a slow and painful death because of a wound they will want to shoot themselves. Charley learned a lot in the army and that is why this book is called soldiers heart. My favorite part is the whole book because it is so interesting and sad. I don’t have a least favorite part. This book is good for people that like stories that can show them a lesson.
5 Stars MFMS students’ review
After reading it in class, this is what the MFMS’s 8th grade Language Arts thought of the book:
“We liked the story because some parts of the story were really detailed and seems like you were actually there. Well, not really. It was easy to read because there was not so much hard words, which made it easier and better.”
–Colleen and Jessica.
“I liked the story because it was extremely detailed with words to explain everything that happened. The bigger words make it a better book to understand more.”
–Tom, Desirae, Juan
“I liked the book because it teach me about history. I think it was kind of hard to read, because all the big words. I think the big words make it hard to read and not one could understand it.”
–Man, Diana, Giovanna
“We kinds liked the book because it talked about the war and we wanted to know about the war and the book helped a lot. The book was kind of hard to read, but easy to at the same time. It kind of had big words, but it was better to read the book that way. The book was very interesting. The book was good.”
–Kara, Maria R., Maria Z., Angelica
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