Dear Walter Dean Meyers,

My grandfather was in World War II as a teenager.  He said war was a terrible thing, but it had to be done.  He said he hated what the Nazis were doing to the Jewish people in Europe.  Throughout your book, The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: a World War II Soldier, I learned that it was much more than the Jews and soldiers who were suffering, it was the family and friends of the soldiers and the innocent people who were murdered during the war.

I realized that during war people sacrifice so much; they can’t spend time with their family, also they risk their lives, the last thing is that they could see people die and you can’t do anything about it.  They have to be strong in order to face people from a country that wants to destroy you.  My grandfather was shot in the shoulder during the war and taken prisoner.  He had been very scared because there had been an incident where a prisoner couldn’t walk, so the Nazis left him for dead.  Luckily, my grandfather survived.  I used to think of my grandfather’s story as exciting but I just took it as a story.  After reading your book, I took being a soldier as an extreme act of courage.

I learned about Scotty helping his friends in capturing the last town in the story.  Now I know that my grandfather must have done the same thing during the Battle of the Bulge after D-Day.  When Scott was shot, you surprised me but then I realized that there is never a happy ending in war.  War is a terrible thing that will never be just fun and games.  It is bad, but it has to be done.

All in all, you wrote a wonderful book that helped me understand a part of my grandfather’s life.  Now I know how some things may be bad, but once you look back you remember how you helped your country and the lives you saved.  Thank you for your book.

Sincerely,

Brian Conwell