Soldier's Heart

Fifteen-year-old Charley volunteers to fight in the American Civil war looking for excitement and adventure and learns, very quickly, the physical horrors and awfulness. The story is short and Paulsen tells it starkly and sharply mostly as a series of snapshots, vivid moments of going into battle, of hunger and of waiting where the writing has the fine detail of things seen and heard and felt. History comes to life in the actuality of Charley's life and this war, despite its time, seems very modern - the human perception does not seem to change. The Author's Note at the end linking it back to a real life makes the story more poignant and deepens the sense of history and story in tandem.