Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Rita Lorraine Hubbard, The Original H.I.R. (Historical Investigative Reporter)

It's always difficult when a child is separated from his parents. But when the parent goes to war, fears and emotions can run very high.

Postcards From a War, by Vanita Oelschlager, is a touching book about a young boy whose mother has been deployed to the war overseas. The boy is plagued with sadness and fear for her safety, but his wise grandfather lovingly shares his own remedy for such anxiety. He shows the grandson postcards his own father sent him from the Phillipines, when he was only a child. The grandfather shows how his father's postcards kept the members of their family going strong until his father's safe return.

Author Vanita Oeschlager gifts her readers with a bitter-sweet view of military life, sharing actual postcards she received from her own father during WWI. Illustrator Mike Blanc adds rich colors to his realistic drawings, lending this special book a quiet, comforting overtone.

Oelschlager is Writer-In-Residence for the Literacy Program at the University of Akron. She has written several other books, including, A Tale of Two Daddies, which debuted in April, 2010.

For a wonderful story about military families, separation anxiety and family reunions, be sure to pick up a copy of Postcards From a War.