Sonny's War by Valerie Hobbs - reviewed by Teen Reviewer Kendall J.

Corin is fourteen years old and living in Ojala, California. It's a sleepy town where all there is to do is "cruise" Main Street and watch her brother drag race. She is growing into young womanhood during the exciting, idealistic, confusing and tumultuous 1960s. In one year, her father dies, her brother is drafted and sent to Vietnam, her favorite history teacher (on whom she has a crush) is a conscientious objector, and she and her mother are forced to learn to live independently.

Set during the Vietnam Conflict, the reader "experiences" the effects of the war on those persons left at home. Valerie Hobbs eloquently depicts the turmoil and bittersweet humor of a young girl who deals simultaneously with loss, betrayal, and love within her own life and the lives of people she holds most dear. The story is gripping, memorable, and readable.