I know this book was written for literal children, but Pennypacker didn't need to pull her punches quite so much. This was supposed to be a poignant tale about a boy and his animal companion learning that it might be time to go their separate ways, as well as a story about the unseen victims of war, and it was NOWHERE near as gut-wrenching as it should have been.

Instead the middle was meandering and too-long, and the ending was too-quick and unsatisfying.