Children's Literature
- Sharon Salluzzo
Twelve-year-old Levi Battle had been living with his Aunt Odella in Chicago. His mother left when he was only a few months old, and his father had been serving in the U.S. Army for the past three years. In May, 1945, with the war coming to an end, Aunt Odella decided that Levi and his father should be reunited. Without any forewarning, she put Levi on a train for South Carolina, a journey that would eventually take him to Pendleton, Oregon. Levi's father was a member of the first Black paratroopers, one of the "Triple Nickles" which was the nickname given to the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. The first-person narration allows the story to unfold from Levi's perspective.
