Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

by Gary Paulsen

Book Overview

At fifteen, Charley Goddard ran off to fight in the Civil War, not knowing what war truly meant, and he came back a changed person at the age of nineteen due to everything he had seen and experienced... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440228387
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.9" x 0.3" x 4.1"

Customer Reviews

Cody Starr's Soldier's Heart book

Soldier's HeartSoldier's Heart is about a boy named Charley who is only 15 years old and he goes to war and becomes a soldier in the Civil War. In the middle of the story a guy named Nelson got a Belly wound and Charley wants to help, but a Lutenet soldier tells him to leave Nelson behind. Charley gave Nelson his container of water to help him. At the end of the story Charley dies. Before he dies he thinks about his own life, and then he passes away.I think Gary Paulsen wanted to show his readers what a soldiers heart is really like, how hard a real soldier works, especially to show you the real meaning of being in a real war, and how bad it is to be in a war. Gary is trying and doing a good job to convince the reader to learn about a real war and a real soldier's heart.My favorite part is when Charley tries to help out Nelson's Belly wound because Gary is just showing that Charley cares about his friends. I also liked the way Gray tried to convince the readers to help out others unless you know they will die soon. Then just let them be. So far what do you think it is like just from me telling you about it? Would you like to read it? I think you should because it is a really good story, and I think you should read it because it tells and shows you that War isn't really funny. It might be to you, but when you read Soldier's Heart you will notice it isn't funny at all it is serious and sad. By, Cody

The Soilder's Heart

I think that it was a good and exciting book had power and movement . I never really liked history books until I read The Soilder's Heart.

What A Great Book!

A Soldiers Heart is a book that I would recommend to other readers not only because of the great details that Gary Paulsen put into it, but because you relive the Civil War. I liked this book because it's about a boy that is 15 years old, Charley Gaddard. He lied about his age and joined the Minnesota Volunteers. Gary Pualsen is a wonderful writer, and Soldiers Heart is one of his best novels. The gore is not all that great, but you get used to it. This is a great book to read if you are learning about the Civil War. Charley was pretty brave for going into the Civil War at the age of 15. What a big task.

?Soldier?s Heart?, a perfect example of Gary Paulsen?s merit

Although the amount of books based on Civil War is huge, very few books have talked about the life of simple soldiers in detail in order to know how the soldiers of the Civil War felt in the war. Gary Paulsen, a gifted writer, has filled up that absence quite successfully by only one book, named Soldier's Heart. Based on the Civil War experience of a real boy Charley, he brings the worst nightmare of the war into the pages of this book. Charley Goddard, a hard worker, soft hearted, adventure loving fifteen years boy has never been any place except his birthplace, Winona, Minnesota. When the war begins, the superficial images of the parade, uniform, pretty girls excite him and lead him to join in the Union army, lying about his age, since men under eighteen aren't allowed to go to fight. But as the harsh reality becomes clear, when he gets in the war, his all images vapor like heated camphor. He hasn't even thought about how terrible the war could be in reality. In his first battle his mind cries and prays to God, "I am not supposed to see these, GOD. No person supposes to see these. How can you let these happen?" But as the time passes Charley changes totally. He participates in all major battles of Civil War and finally gets wounded in the battle of Gettysburg. Gary Paulsen shows how a man's choice or mind changes when he participates in a war and uses Charley, as an example, who likes the shining revolver after war instead of other pretty things that he has liked before gets in the war. Paulsen's tiny details about battlefields help realizing how horrible the Civil War's battles were and also let the reader feel the way characters of the book have felt. Although this book is short and does not clearly describe some events, worth is beyond the price in currency. I have no doubt, if you start reading this book, you won't stop yourself until you reach to end and I, myself, am its great evidence. I highly recommend this book to those who are studying Civil War, especially the high school students, because some places of that story require better quality of understanding. The students who are new with English literature will be helped by this book to understand the easy level of written English.

One of the Best books!

Soldier's Heart is a excited and realistic book that describe the life of a teenager soldier in the Civil War. This book does not contain fiction stanzas even though is a book, this book has the cruel story of a soldier of 15 years old who joined the Union army in the Civil War to fight against the Confederacy. The cruel and the excited contain of this book makes the book be one of the best of Gary Paulsen. This book is compared with NightJohn book because has similarties of cruel stories of war and of slavery. Those two books from the same author has and explain the true of what life is inside a war and inside slavery. Reading this book i have answered many questions that i had before read it. Questions that only in few good books like this one that contain the reality and not much fiction. In this book anyone can find many things and can find answers to questions about wars in life. In this book the author had a convination that makes reality and that makes the reader with wonders of the tomorrow's life. I really recomend this book to anyone does not matter the age, race, or nothing else, this book has words that makes people see in the mirror of the todays life. I think that the author, Gary Paulsen is good in describe the actions of his characters, he travel the readers to his way to make us to understand. He is a really good writter, he had showed his excellence with the NightJohn book. I really liked and enjoyned reading this book, i recoment to anyone! Is a really good book!