THE LOWDOWN:
It’s 1968, and war is not foreign to seventeen-year-old Ashe. His dogmatic, racist father married his passionate peace-activist mother when she became pregnant with him, and ever since, the couple, like the situation in Vietnam, has been engaged in a “senseless war that could have been prevented.”

When his high school history teacher dares to teach the political realities of the war, Ashe grows to better understand the situation in Vietnam, his family, and the wider world around him. But when a new crisis hits his parents’ marriage, Ashe finds himself trapped, with no options before him but to enter the fray.

FIRST IMPRESSION:
APRIL 1969
Week Fifteen: 204

There’s something tidy

In seventeen syllables,

A haiku neatness
—ARC paperback edition

SNAPSHOT:
Ashe is a sensitive guy, the only student in his history teacher’s class who knows that the number the teacher writes on the board every week is the casualty count for Vietnam soldiers the week before. He loves his parents, even if they have never really loved each other. And while he plans to go to college to have his draft deferred, he doesn’t know how to explain that he doesn’t feel the same way as his father about it being “every red-blooded American’s duty” to bleed when she calls.

The war in Vietnam hangs over Ashe’s world and seeps into every aspect of his life—whether literally or figuratively. But while there is anger and violence, there is also love and caring: his mother, his new girlfriend, and an unexpected arrival.

Told in haiku format, each of the 16,592 syllables represents one American soldier killed during the Vietnam War in 1968 alone. This makes for a supremely quick and easy read, even as the story delves into tense topics. It’s as though skipping any word is like dishonoring the dead.

The characters are each well-drawn and solid in their beliefs, which makes the heart-breaking ending that much more difficult to look away from: the human toll of wars large and small. The new culture of love, peace, and sexual freedom of the 1960s challenges Ashe’s home life with stunningly effective, minimalistic strokes.

Appropriate for ages 14+.  Some strong language, intense situations.

Deals with family, war, racism, politics, emotional abuse, divorce/separation, infidelity, love, and new life.

GET IT ON YOUR SHELF: 
If you… 

• Love novels in verse

• Are a fan of Vietnam-era war stories

• Enjoyed the musical Across the Universe

• Have ever wondered about the parallels between struggles in our times and those of the past

THE ESSENTIALS:
YA Historical
Hardcover & Ebook, 208 pages
Published October 7th 2014 by HMH Books for Young Readers (ISBN 054430215X)
http://www.hmhco.com/shop/books/Death-Coming-Up-the-Hill/9780544302150
(Review copy provided by Rachel Wasdyke at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.)