Synopsis
Fueled by anger at the death of his two brothers in World War I, 16-year-old Edward abandons his ailing father on their farm and leaves Canada to enlist. After proving that he can tame any wild horse, he's is sent to Jordan to fight with the Cavalry.
Luckily, his horse is the extraordinary Buke; in battle, a trooper's horse is the key to life and death, and his true companion. In the harsh desert, Edward is grateful for the camaraderie of his tent mates, Cheevers and Blackburn,and letters from Emily, a nurse he met at base camp. As they close in on the enemy Edward finds that the glory and noble vengeance he seeks is replaced by the horror of war and the realization that he must fight not only to survive, but also, to kill.
Children's Literature
Hector Bathe, Edward's older brother, dies fighting for his country during World War I. Back home, Edward's father, bedridden and under emotional duress, refuses to let his remaining son enlist. Despite his father's forbidding, Edward, only sixteen, joins the war effort. His journey leads him from his native Canada, across the Atlantic, all the way to Palestine. Along the way he falls in love, develops a close camaraderie with his fellow soldiers, and forms an unbreakable bond with his horse, Bucephalus or "Buke" for short. This is not a romanced or lovely story about a horse and his boy; it is an incarnation of Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum Est." The text's presentation of the emotional and psychological inner struggles that arise when propaganda fails is an uncompromising look at humanity in the chaos of war. This is a highly engrossing and recommended book for young readers. Slade does not pander to his readers; he instead gives them a book whose message and main character embody the very questions and sorrows that are so painfully pertinent to our present point in world history.