My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

1.5 stars
Why you should not read this book:
1. Depiction of American patriots as immature and uninformed
2. Underlying innuendos of American Revolution being a pointless war
3. Colorless characters. As one reviewer said,“They were not loved and lost to me, just there and lost, or not…”
4. Unrealistic dialogue
5. Use of language and cursing inappropriate to time period (and inappropriate read for/to middle school and younger age kids.)
6. Story is just a series of disjointed events with no emotion
7. The ending is abrupt and poorly done. it left a feeling of, “and that’s it?”
8. It is a short book that dragged.
9. Poor writing
10. Audio version is just awful . . . narrator has unpleasant voice and speaks slooowly with looong pauses between events.

Not totally a lame book as it does give some important insights regarding the resulting devastations that war brings to communities and families. However an implication easily drawn from the story is that the American Revolution was a sad and unnecessary event. Seriously. Near the end of the book the family doesn't really care who wins . . . they just want the war to be over. It really bothers me this is on many 4th-9th grade required/recommended reading lists, not only because of the points listed above but because there are better books on the subject for children and young adults.


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