Sue's Reviews > My Brother Sam Is Dead

Evidently this is a frequently banned book because of the gratuitous language and violent war themes. I think it should be banned because it's not very well-written and its anti-war theme is so unsubtle it practically bludgeons the reader over the head. Repeatedly. The book is meant to convince us that war is bad and affects innocent civilians in all sorts of brutal ways. While this is true, the narrator, Timmy, has a hard time convincing us. The story is disjointed and more a series of vignettes, and between the scenes he is constantly stating that life goes on and he's forgotten what came before. It was written in 1975 so I understand the Newbery committee appreciating the anti-war bias set in historical fiction, but I always wish the selections were uniformly timeless. Alas, they are products of their time. "The Fighting Ground" by Avi explores the same theme in the same time period and it's an excellent book, much better told than this one.