The Right Fight

November 4, 2013
The prolific Lynch follows his Vietnam series of novels (including I Pledge Allegiance and, most recently, Casualties of War) with one set during WWII. This first book follows Roman Bucyk, a minor league baseball star who enlists in the U.S. Army in 1941, where he discovers a talent as a tank driver. As Roman’s journey takes him from the last baseball game of the season through training and finally being sent overseas, he witnesses and reflects on the horror of war and the righteousness of taking the fight to the Nazis. As the campaign in North Africa intensifies, Roman’s newfound bond with the rest of his tank crew is tested, as is his relationship with his fiancée, Hannah, back home. Lynch doesn’t pull any punches in this slim but powerful volume, chronicling Roman’s exploits with an almost dreamlike sense of atmosphere, coupled with a keen ear for dialogue and intense battle scenes. Though aimed at younger readers, Lynch doesn’t write down, instead offering a powerful taste of war on a personal level. Ages 10–14.

October 15, 2013
All the sizzle, chaos, noise and scariness of war is clay in the hands of ace storyteller Lynch. The proceedings open with a baseball game, an image that could not be more peacefully patriotic than a slice of apple pie in the days preceding World War II. War looms, and narrator Roman Bucyk has enlisted while the country is still neutral. But Bucyk has a bead on things: "The Nazis hate baseball. This I know. And I hate the Nazis." Roman is no rube; he is just full of bravado and bowled over by feelings of honor and integrity. He gets the girl of his dreams to agree to an engagement, and then it is off to basic training. Lynch serves all this up with a gathering sense of drama, though he keeps the braggadocio to a level that allows readers to see the wide-eyed apprehension behind the bluster. Then, in a smart and entertaining move, Lynch situates the action not in the well-worn Pacific or European theaters, but in North Africa, introducing readers to Algeria, to the strangeness of having to fight the French, to Djebel Hamra and Sidi Bouzid as the fighting clanks toward Tunisia. As he did with his four-volume Vietnam series, Lynch effectively takes readers back to the good war. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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February 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-Lynch ("Vietnam" series, Scholastic) begins a new war series, this time set during World War II. Professional baseball player Roman Bucyk realizes that U.S. involvement in the current European war is imminent and decides to enlist. Roman is sent to the African front, first to Algeria and then to Tunisia, where his mediocre baseball talent takes a backseat to his earnest enthusiasm for fighting against the Nazi regime. An often overlooked portion of the war effort, the Allied battle with the German Afrika Korps is well delivered through a first-person narrative and a series of letters to Hannah, his fiance. The letters also illustrate how the women at home, like Hannah, did their duty by serving in the Women's Army Corps and other military organizations. Roman's youthful optimism, bravado, and fear allow readers to experience a firsthand look into a soldier's life, from long days waiting for orders to the perilous battle arena. Perhaps most affecting is the portrayal of friendships with Roman's military unit, which help highlight the lifelong bonds fellow soldiers formed during and after this war.-Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2013
Grades 5-9 Lynch received high marks for his Vietnam series; Casualties of War (2013) is the most recent installment. He returns to the theme of young U.S. soldiers with a new series about WWII, setting a high mark for both historical fiction and rich, accessible storytelling. While playing in the Eastern Shore Baseball league, Roman is waiting impatiently for the U.S. to enter the war against the Nazis, and for his chance to see military action. The story keeps a quick, steady pace, following him through enlistment and training to the thick of real battle as a tank driver in Algeria. Meanwhile, Roman, who has a refined sense of political awareness, deals with a compelling love interest as well as suffering the emotional wounds of battle. Lynch manages to cultivate a story full of vivid historical realities from Roman's first-person perspective, including period slang and customs, demonstrating that fiction can serve as a lens to history without resorting to dusty, dated facts. Pair with Stephen G. Hyslop and Neil Kagan's Eyewitness to World War II (2012) for a nonfiction perspective.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)