Rating: 
Summary: wilsonater's review
Review: Soldier's Heart, Laura-Leaf books,1998, pp.106, $5.50
Gary Paulson ISBN 0-440-22838-7
"He heard it all, Charey did; heard the drums and songs and slogans and knew what everybody and his rooster was crowing. There was going to be a shooting war."
Charley was a fifteen -year-old living in Minnesota when he heard about a shooting war that was against the South. He saw that he would get paid eleven dollars a month and so he enlisted in the war. He started out at Fort Snelling just doing training and he thought it was very boring. After he left there he rode on a train to Manassas. The food was terrific and he thought it was going to be like this always. When he got to the first battle he thought it was the worst thing that he had ver seen with people dying everywhere and being shot at. The general came and told him to run into the forest and so that battle was called the Battle of Bull Run. Then came winter and the food was horrible and the camp was running out of coffe beans. The next battle was very harsh and the union thought they were done for because the rebels outnumbered them very highly. I can't tell the end of that battle, but I can say this, this is a terrific book so please read and find out the exciting outcome.
I absolutly love Gary Paulson and his books are phenomenol. This is just one of his great books and I hope you will read this great book called Soldier's Heart. This book perfectly describes how bad war actually is, and it is a wonderful but sad story.Baylor Wilson
Rating: 
Summary: An atrocity...
Review: This short novel was shoved into my hands by a Creative Writing teacher that I really like. She claimed it was very good and having just read my short story on the battle of Fredericksurg, thought I would seriously enjoy it. She was wrong.
The book is decently written I'll admit, but did Gary Paulsen even bother to research the War Between The States? I'm inclined to doubt he knew anything about the conflict at all. The historical inaccuracies are horrendous in this particular story. It outraged me. The main character tells of his adventure throughout his service in the war. The only truly accurate part is the exchange between the main character and the Confederate soldier. I was absolutely disgusted at Charley's chasing of the withdrawing Confederate troops screaming by himself: Where's your yell now! Where's your yell?" and then having the officer himself chase after the simple soldier. COME ON! How ridiculous. I particularly hated his "limit break" at the Southern forces toward the end, which in this situation would have beaten the northerners, but Paulsen managed to make a victory of the ordeal. The present situation clearly displayed a Confederate victory and while reading the first part, I predicted their win. However, Paulsen pulled a fast one and made another error in writing about battles of that era. And the captain's addressing the main character as: "You're hit" Or some other ridiculous Hollywood line. As if he was numbed by his rage against his opponents that he didn't feel the round hit him. Of course, it turns out that he wasn't shot after all, but the captain would not have him walk to the hopsital. The Southerners tended to have more out of date firearms, meaning: The bullets were a bit more rounded, a little more like a musket ball, which upon impact would send the victim to his knees. Those shells would shatter bones and the pain would be unbearable to walk. How could the general even hope for Charley to walk the whole distance to the hospital if he believed him shot?
The entire book just disgusted me as a whole. I'm absolutely sick and tired of politically correct books that turn the Confederate Army into war criminals, when Union General Sherman committed terrible crimes against the Southern civilians. I couldn't believe that something so ludicrous would ever be published. I strongly suggest searching for a more accurate historical book. That is, if you would like the real truth.
Rating:
Summary: Soldier's Heart
Review: The story I read was Soldier's Heart. The character is Charley. It takes place in a field were they have the battle. Charley was a kid who thought the Civil War was going to be fun. He lied about his age and goes into the war. When the soldier's got there Charley knew it wasn't going to be fun at all for him. This book is historical fiction. One of the events takes place in the story is when the soldiers got there Charley had to be in the front and 20 other people were up front with him. When 10 got hit and killed Charley knew it is not going to be fun anymore. I liked it because my brother tells all about the war to me and my dad tells me a lot of stuff about the war. I think this book is really good. You should read it because it is really good and exciting.
Rating: 
Summary: the horrors of this book
Review: Soldier's Heart is a book about a kid who joins the war when he is 15. He finds out that war is horrible just like this book. This book was one of the the worst war books I have read. No one should even think about reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Soldier's Heart--A Boy In A Man's Body
Review: SOLDIER'S HEART is about a fifteen year boy named Charley Goddard who poses for eighteen to get a position in the Minnesota Volenteers for the Battle at Gettysburg. Charley's dad died when he was a young boy. His mom had been raising Charley and his younger brother Orren since he died. Charley went off to war at only age fifteen. At first he thought it was great,everyone cheering for him and all the other men. One day Charley and the other soldiers were sent off to fight in the Battle of Bull Run. Charley's mother thought that was terrible. Her first son going off to fight in the Battle of Bull Run and shoot people with rifles. Charley fought in other battles like Gettysburg and Fort Snelling but none were as bloody as Bull Run. In the Battle of Bull Run Charley and a few of his buddies got shot. Charley got shot in the stomach. People say he is a boy in a young man's body. He entered the service and was a boy,he came back and was a man.I give SOLDIER'S HEART two thumbs up. It was a great book about harsh times and crude survival. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: It is June 1861, and Charley Goddard of Minnesota joins the army, so as not to miss what is certain to be a short war. But, war turns out not to be the adventure that he had expected. Through shot and shell, and more than a little insanity, Charley survives four great battles of the American Civil War. But, Charley is far from unchanged; instead of being the simple lad he once was, Charley now has a soldier's heart, one filled with pain. I was a little surprised when my daughter thrust this book at me, saying that I must read it, as she has never done that before. So, I figured I must read a book that impressed her so much. This book is first and foremost an anti-war polemic. For the most part, only the battles are recounted in this short work, and the author goes to great lengths to show the horrors of war. In fact, my one problem with the book was that the author often went too far, presenting the Civil War as even more horrific that it actually was. For example, the book states that stomach wounds were always fatal, and that soldiers who were belly-shot were not even taken back to the hospital; both of those are not true. But, that said, this is a powerfully written story, one that goes a long way towards presenting the horrors that many men actually experienced during the American Civil War. Overall, I give it a guarded recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: A little adventure
Review: It was the begining of the civil war and Charley wanted a little adventure, so he signed up for the war. There was one thing, Charley was only 15 so he lied about his age.He didnt know though he would be in a "shooting war" was which makes his adventure even more exciting to read.
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Summary: A Man In A Kids Body
Review: In Soldier's Heart Gary Paulson tells the story of Charley Goddard a boy that lies about his age and signs up for the first Minnesota volunteers. Although he does not know that he has signed up for a shooting war, he wants to get away from his home life. Through Bull Run and Gettysburg he deals with death,diseases and homesick. He makes it through the war his mind is still there. I think this book is good read for all kids that enjoy action and war books.
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Summary: A boy in a man's world
Review: When you read Gary Paulsen's novel Soldier's Heart, you can wonder what he was thinking. When he didn't create a sequel to it. Charley Goddard was only fifteen when he enlisted with the First Minnesota Volunteers, but when he came out of the war he was only nineteen, but something was different about him, his heart has changed, people would say that he had Soldier's Heart. Overall I would tell any student who was looking for a decent novel that they should definately read this book. Because it may be short, but anyone will love it.
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Summary: soldier's Heart sole my heart
Review: SOLDIER'S HEART
Soldier's Heart is about a kid named Charley he was 15 years old .He went to Fort Summter and signed up. He was in the Civil War.
I think Gary Paulsen is trying to show us that war is all about and to teach us war is not cool or fun.
I liked the whole book but my favorite parts were when two bullets headed for his head but they hit each other and fell. I also liked when a canon ball went though a horse and it did flips. I liked the end because it's peaceful. If you want to find out what happens red it you will love it.
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