Operation Oleander

Gr 5–9—Ninth-grader Jess and her family live on a military base in the U.S. She and her friends Meriwether and Sam collect donations for an orphanage in Kabul, where her father and Meriwether's mother are stationed. When the orphanage is bombed and reports reach the U.S. almost immediately that American military personnel were present, the all-but-unbearable waiting for official notification of casualties and injuries begins. Rumors are rampant, and the entire base holds its collective breath while the television shows seemingly never-ending reruns of the explosion. Patterson has an amazing ability to convey the tension and fear that families and friends of deployed soldiers bear every day and the heart-stopping terror when news programs show violence against troops that may result in one of their loved ones being wounded or dead. The story doesn't have a happy ending-there is grief, anger, blame, and guilt, emotions that are universal in the wake of tragedies. It is unfortunate that the characters are one-dimensional and show little growth.—Nancy P. Reeder, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, SC