Awards

• Winner of Mildred L. Batchelder Award (Children's) 2006
• Winner of Mildred L. Batchelder Award 2006

Overview

In the middle of the night, a young farmhand is awoken by his master and hustled into town. Before he knows what's happening, Adam finds himself alone in the city hall, facing a group of military officers who draft him into the army. Thus begin Adam's misadventures in Napoleon's Grande Armee, which is marching across Europe to conquer faraway Russia. Far from home, exhausted by the mind-numbing routine and, worst of all, victimised by sadistic Sergeant Krauter, Adam wonders if he can escape. But then an aristocratic lieutenant spots him and takes him on as his personal servant. What unfolds is the story of a friendship that flourishes in the dirt of an ill-fated campaign. The war that introduces Adam to so many terrible things also shows him the possibility of a happier life afterward - if he can survive.

Full Product Details

9780439627719

Table of Contents

Reviews

Kirkus 9/15/05AN INNOCENT SOLDIERAuthor: Holub, JosefSixteen-year-old Adam Feuchter is tricked by the farmer he works for, substituted for the farmer's own son and drafted into the army. Napoleon's Grande Armee, the largest army the world had ever seen, is on its way to Russia. At first pleased to be part of the magnificent regiment and eager to catch a glimpse of the greatest general in history, Adam is soon disillusioned by war. The cruelties and humiliations he faces at the hands of his own sergeant are just the beginning, as he witnesses the horrible ways soldiers treat locals. Starvation, cholera and Cossack attacks foreshadow disaster in Moscow and the ugly retreat, hindered by brutal cold and Russian troops hounding them. Translated from the German, the simple, understated and at times eloquent first-person narrative rings true to one boy's experience of war, adventure and survival. (map spread, historical note) (Fiction. 12+) Booklist 11/15/05\\\\\\\\Holub, Josef. An Innocent Soldier. Tr. by Michael Gofmann. 2005. 240p. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, $16.99 (0-439-62771-0).Gr. 7-12. In this unevenly translated novel, a teenaged farmhand is forced to take part in Napoleon's ill-fated Russian campaign. Unsuspecting orphan Adam is handed over to recruiting officers by the farmer he works for as a replacement for the man's drafted son. Assigned to the horse artillery, Adam leads a miserable life until the blue-blooded Lieutenant Konrad Klara requisitions him to become his personal servant. The young men head toward Moscow, but are soon overcome by hunger and disease. After witnessing many wartime atrocities, the two survive the suicide march out of Russia and form an unlikely bond that transcends class and station. Other than a brief historical note, little background information is given, assuming much prior knowledge on the part of the reader. While the novel is evocative in places, the translation is replete with odd-sounding phrase

Kirkus 9/15/05<br>AN INNOCENT SOLDIER<br>Author: Holub, Josef<br>Sixteen-year-old Adam Feuchter is tricked by the farmer he works for, substituted for the farmer's own son and drafted into the army. Napoleon's Grande Armee, the largest army the world had ever seen, is on its way to Russia. At first pleased to be part of the magnificent regiment and eager to catch a glimpse of the greatest general in history, Adam is soon disillusioned by war. The cruelties and humiliations he faces at the hands of his own sergeant are just the beginning, as he witnesses the horrible ways soldiers treat locals. Starvation, cholera and Cossack attacks foreshadow disaster in Moscow and the ugly retreat, hindered by brutal cold and Russian troops hounding them. Translated from the German, the simple, understated and at times eloquent first-person narrative rings true to one boy's experience of war, adventure and survival. (map spread, historical note) (Fiction. 12+) <br>Booklist 11/15/05<br>\\\\\\\\Holub, Josef. An Innocent Soldier. Tr. by Michael Gofmann. 2005. 240p. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, $16.99 (0-439-62771-0).<br>Gr. 7-12. In this unevenly translated novel, a teenaged farmhand is forced to take part in Napoleon's ill-fated Russian campaign. Unsuspecting orphan Adam is handed over to recruiting officers by the farmer he works for as a replacement for the man's drafted son. Assigned to the horse artillery, Adam leads a miserable life until the blue-blooded Lieutenant Konrad Klara requisitions him to become his personal servant. The young men head toward Moscow, but are soon overcome by hunger and disease. After witnessing many wartime atrocities, the two survive the suicide march out of Russia and form an unlikely bond that transcends class and station. Other than a brief historical note, little background information is given, assuming much prior knowledge on the part of the reader. While the novel is evocative in places, the translation is replete with odd-sounding phrase

Author Information

Josef is author of The Robber and Me and An Innocent Soldier. Published in 2005, An Innocent Soldier chronicles the journey of a sixteen-year-old boy who is tricked into fighting in the Napoleonic Wars by his employer. This ALA Notable Children's book is also the winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award.

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