The Yellow Birds (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780316219341)

Finalist for the National Book Award, The Yellow Birds is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to stay alive in Iraq.

"The war tried to kill us in the spring." So begins this powerful account of friendship and loss.

In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. Bound together since basic training when Bartle makes a promise to bring Murphy safely home, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for.

In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger. As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes actions he could never have imagined.

With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, The Yellow Birds is a groundbreaking novel that is destined to become a classic.

Author: Kevin Powers
ISBN-10: 0316219347
ISBN-13: 9780316219341
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Language: English
Published: 04/30/2013
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 0.80d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 6.5
Point Value: 9
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 156980 / Yellow Birds


Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 05/05/2013 pg. 28