Worth Fighting For

"The Marines love it. As soon as we post a sign-up sheet they fight to get to the head of the line because it fills up within an hour."

What are they fighting to do?

Read a book to their kids.

(Photo by Lance Cpl. Aaron J. Rock)

For the full story, click here.

For a well-organized list of books about kids with a military parent, see children's librarian Jan Pye Marry's website, built as part of the requirements for her MLIS degree. The background for this project is interesting, too, for as she points out, there are over a million children in military families, but she could find only about fifty books, most of them NOT contemporary, (Vietnam era or earlier!) that even in some small way, reflected their experience. My personal favorite, The Great Santini, is on the list as "an adult book for teens." (If you want a look into the world this book was based on, read the eulogy the author, Pat Conroy, delivered for his Marine aviator father.)

I would also recommend the YA novel, Battle Dress, by Amy Efaw, who was one of the first women to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, and who was a classmate of mine at the Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop at Chautauqua in 1996. The book is not about a military family, per se, but it is a gripping fictional account of a young woman's first year at West Point.

P.S. I have some commitments for the next few days, so I'll see you (and reply to your comments) when I return to the blog...