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When Johnny is ten, WWI commences, and his father eagerly enlists. In letters home that form an affecting part of the text, his father encloses tiny toy soldiers, ones that he whittles at the front. With these figures, Johnny plays war, and he comes to believe that "maybe it was true that whatever happened in the garden happened in faraway France." The poignant, believable tale is shaped with precision, imagination, and intensity.
Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2001