Sunrise over Fallujah

Sunrise over Fallujah
by
Walter Dean Myers
read by J D Jackson
young adult audiobook

Robin enlists in the Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  His unit is to serve as liaison between civilians and military.  What kind of impossible task is that?  Myers brings his brilliant style to this book. 

Every Man in this Village Is a Liar

Every Man in this Village Is a Liar
by
Megan Stack
adult nonfiction
This book was written by a L. A. Times Middle East Correspondent telling about her experiences interviewing people and living in the Middle East for the last 10 years. This book is very timely and informative about how screwed up Middle Eastern politics is. It is hard to know who to trust and who is telling the truth to a female foreign correspondent. If we choose this book, we may have some strong opinions being expressed by the patrons about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a number of other places that are currently in the news: wars in Israel, Syria, Lebanon, the role of women in Saudia Arabia and other Muslim countries, etc. This acronym kept coming to mind: SNAFU.
Most of our readers will be familiar with some, but not all of the places she discusses. I didn't know all of the words she used. Sometimes she explained them (like "mujahideen") and sometimes she didn't. It really made me think about all the things that are going on over there and how our government and our troops are involved or not involved.
Very timely. Very relevant today. Should appeal to both men and women as it is a war book, but by a woman author.

Nubs: The True Story of a Marine, a Mutt and a Miracle

Nubs: The True Story of a Marine, a Mutt and a Miracle
by
Maj. Brian Dennis, Mary Nethery and Kirby Larson
Children's nonfiction, ages 5-10.

After reading about Bobbie and Bob Cat in Kirby Larson's "Two Bobbies" I saw that she published another heart rendering tale of a canine overcoming adversity.
Nubs is one of many stray, starving dogs in Iraq. He lives on the fringes of an army camp begging for food. Nubs, unlike many of the other dogs, likes people. In particular he likes Major Dennis. Marines aren't allowed to own dogs while on combat duty, so Dennis leaves Nubs behind each time he moves out. Nubs waits for him over and over. The last time, however, Nubs can not stand to be parted from Dennis again so he follows him across the desert for 70 miles. What loyalty! Dennis knows he can't abandon Nubs again, so he sees what he can do to get Nubs a better home.
This is a good enough book, but "Two Bobbies" was better because Bobbie was a life saver. Nubs is cute and all, but he doesn't put out any fires or save Timmy from a well or anything.
This book relies on graphics and photographs. "Two Bobbies" had illustrations. Again, I think "Two Bobbies" was better visually.

You can read a lot more about this story by using any search engine. Here is one report.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33585208/

I also read on the internet that they are planning a movie based on this story. Surely there are some stories about drug or bomb sniffing dogs that would be better? I would rather see a movie about the dogs that helped find people in the post 9-11 wreckage.