Is the story of two army brats who were raised to glorify military action by their Colonel father. The older enlists and is deployed to Vietnam and sends photographic film rolls to his younger sister, who learns the art of film processing and printing. It's a beautiful story arc.

There were a couple of jarring references that seemed anachronistic, so I called my sister and invited her to travel with me in the Wayback Machine to the early 70s.

The pre-teen Jaimee wore blue jeans and carried a backpack and wore 'sneakers' and put a seat belt on automatically when getting into a car. From our recollections, blue jeans and backpacks were still considered counter-cultural, though it's possible she would have been permitted to wear 'dungarees,' but not to school. 'Tennies' would have been casual shoe wear, but also not at school. A one-strap bookbag would have been normal. Knapsacks and military surplus backpacks would have been hippie gear.

These were minor glitches though. It was a very thoughtful story and I'll probably look for more by the author.

Captivating from the start. I loved Jamie Dexter's character, so whip-smart and sassy. For a Vietnam War story, it never veers to sentimental or sad, and for this it works. ( )

Classic O'Roark Dowelll writing. She perfectly captures the Vietnam era and voice of a young teen whose brother has just been shipped off to Vietnam. The daughter of an army colonel, she laments the fact that she won't have the opportunity to serve her country and make her father proud. Over the course of the story she begins to analyze her feelings about war as she views the camera film her brother sends her and tries to understand why her father, the stalwart colonel, resisted her brother's desire to go to Vietnam. Written in the down home conversational tone typical of O'Roark Dowell. ( )

Anti war theme taking place during Vietnam war. Told by the daughter of the commander of Fort Hood. -Shooting- refers to photographs taken.
Love this author, she writes a good story every time. ( )

Twelve-year-old Jamie and her brother TJ have grown up with the mantra, "The Army way is the right way." So Jamie doesn't understand why her colonel father is not thrilled when TJ enlists to serve in Vietnam. As TJ mails Jamie rolls of film from the front and she learns to develop them, her romanticized view of the war slowly changes and she gains an understanding of all the shades of gray that are involved in conflict. A beautiful story that will open middle-graders' eyes to some of the history around the Vietnam War. ( )