Two girls, Matilde and Megs have grown up together in the same small town. They are best friends, and both of them worry about their families when war with a nearby country comes close to home. All the children their age are given the opportunity to take a test that would qualify them to work for the military. The families of those who qualify will be given a monthly allowance, and the children are promised a college education after their service is over. Both girls sign up for the test, hoping to help their struggling families, but only Matilde is chosen. She is taken to a "school" where gifted children try to predict troop movements, or other strategic elements of the war. Matilde has a hard time figuring out what she has to offer to this junior think tank, until she is assigned to talk to a POW from the other army. Getting to know him shakes all the beliefs she thought she had about "the enemy."This book wasn't anything like I expected by looking at the cover. I thought it would be a sweet story of two friends who try to save the environment or something. Instead this is a chilling portrayal of life in a war zone. It deals with some really heavy moral and ethical questions about warfare. LaFleur resists giving any easy answers. She leaves it to Matilde and the reader to figure out what is right and wrong. I thought the book was well done, but I wonder why LaFluer set it in a fictional country. The story would have worked set in Norway or Sweden during one of the world wars. I guess she was more interested in exploring the moral questions surrounding war than writing an accurate portrayal of a historical war. (2016, 210 p.)
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