I was a bit disappointed to discover that the summary on the book jacket exaggerated the plot a bit. But I continued the book and did like the story.
Operation Oleander is a middle school book that centers on military kid Jess and her friends Sam and Meriwether. The teens created Operation Oleander to help deliver school supplies to an orphanage in Afghanistan. Jess and Meriwether's parents, both stationed in Afghanistan, help deliver the supplies to the orphanage. One day tragedy hits when insurgents strike the orphanage during a delivery.
Overall, I liked the book and enjoyed the messages the book provides to readers. The importance of retaining one's humanity and compassion in the face of tragedy. The lesson that hate is too easy. If you can do even just one good thing. Do that one good thing! Because one good thing is better than nothing. One good thing, no matter how hard, is better than wallowing in hate.
I deeply enjoyed those messages and I liked the strong will and compassion of the main character Jess who refused to bend in the face of hate. But I do wish that a few other characters had been fleshed out more and certain things that were brought up in the story expanded upon more. Such as Jess' relationships with other characters and how Jess' past was probably a big contributor to her passion and loyalty to Warda and the orphanage. I feel that doing so would have made these messages so much stronger and the ending a bit less abrupt. But despite that, I found it a good read. My Rating: ??? Amazon | Bookshop
3 Comments
1/4/2021 03:24:35 pm
It's frustrating when a book's description is a bit misleading. Glad you still enjoyed this though! Those are great messages for a book to have.
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2/19/2021 03:04:11 pm
I don't read much in the middle grade books but this sounds like a good one that covers some real issues.
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