Common Sense Media Review
By Joe Applegate
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Searing account of teen D-Day soldier is powerful, gory.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
INVASION is a first-person account of the landing on Omaha beach on June 6, 1944, and of fighting through the hedgerows of Normandy to the strategic town of St. Lo. The narrator is 19-year-old Woody Wedgewood, an infantryman from Virginia. His deeds are not historic. Apart from using his drawing skill to create a map to show his unit how much it has accomplished, Woody does nothing unusual. He receives and writes letters home, eats, sleeps, and follows orders to keep the Germans from regrouping and knocking the Allies back. How an ordinary young man learns to overcome the horror of war is the real story here, and it is simply told. Here is Woody's prayer before his first battle: "Oh, Jesus, let me do okay. Please." The story ends in a hospital in England.
Is It Any Good?
Young readers whose ideas of war have been formed by video games and movies may appreciate this searing account of an unheralded 19-year-old infantryman during the Normandy invasion. The writing is beautifully spare like the heroism it depicts, with nobody doing great deeds and nobody giving up. Woody tells the reader how he feels while admitting he can't find the right words. "The bodies were piling up faster than our minds could handle them," he says. "There is no training in killing...There were just round targets to shoot at on sunny days in Virginia...."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how war is depicted in books and movies. How is Invasion different or similar? What do you think the author's main message is?
What makes a soldier move forward into gunfire? What happens to a soldier who refuses?
Interrogating a captured German soldier, an American commander first wants to know about the morale of the German troops. Why is morale so important?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Historical Fiction
- Topics : Friendship , History
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Scholastic Press
- Publication date : September 24, 2013
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 17
- Number of pages : 224
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated : December 3, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate