Module #9 Poetry

Title: All the Broken Pieces : A Novel in Verse

Citation:

Burg, A.E. (2009). All the broken pieces : a novel in verse.  New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

Summary:

Matt Penn is torn between two worlds when he is airlifted out of Vietnam in 1975. He can’t forget about the mother and brother he left behind when his mother pushed him onto a transport plane bound for the United States. He also can’t get over the guilt regarding his part in his brother’s devastating injuries. Did his mother send him away as punishment? Will his new adopted family send him away if they find out what he did? Matt’s insecurities eat him up until he confronts them at a meeting with a group of Vietnam vets.

Review:

Grades 6-10. Airlifted from Vietnam at the end of the war and adopted by a loving American family, Matt Pin, 12, is haunted by what he left behind, even as he bonds with his new little brother and becomes a star pitcher on the school baseball team. In rapid, simple free verse, the first-person narrative gradually reveals his secrets: his memories of mines, flames, screams, helicopters, bombs, and guns, as well as what the war did to his little brother (He followed me / everywhere, / he follows me still). But this stirring debut novel is about much more than therapy and survivor guilt. When his parents take Matt to a veterans’ meeting, he hears the soldiers’ stories of injury and rejection and begins to understand why the school bully calls him frogface (My brother died / Because of you). There is occasional contrivance as Matt eavesdrops on adults. But the haunting metaphors are never forced, and the intensity of the simple words, on the baseball field and in the war zone, will make readers want to rush to the end and then return to the beginning again to make connections between past and present, friends and enemies.

Review Source:

Rochman, H. (2009). All the broken pieces. Booklist, 105 (12), 180.

Impressions:

This was a gut-wrenching book. I could feel, hear and smell the horrors described in the book. The very simple, to the point verses really made an impression on me.  It made my stomach turn to think about the treatment of the vets and the prejudices that kids like Matt endured in the United States. It’s very powerful.

Suggested Use(s):

This book could be used in a US history course to discuss the effects of the Vietnam war on the people fighting on both sides as well as those caught in the cross fire.

Discussions could also cover the treatment of vets upon returning to the US with a comparison to the treatment of current vet treatment by the pubic and the government.

Additional Information:

Awards: Booklist Editors' Choice - Books for Youth - Older Readers Category: 2009

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults: 2010

Interest Level: 5th & older

Reading Level: 4.1

Lexile Measure: 680