The Enemy: A Book about Peace

by Davide Calì

Book Overview

Featuring a profound anti-war message, this moving and poetic meditation on the big questions in the tradition of "The Little Prince" is now available in the author's original edition for older... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375845003
• ISBN13: 9780375845000
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 2.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.3" x 11.0"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

there's no enemy

i believe the soldier climbs out of his hole in disguise and wanders back into his own hole. the soldier describes his disorientation before leaving. i believe the message of the book is the reader shouldn't write a message in a bottle and throw it out of their "hole", hoping an imaginary enemy will receive it and stop the war. the reader should read the message themselves and act. this is a great book.

This simple tale about an endless war sends a heavy message about peace

Two soldiers are at war with one another. They have never even seen each other, but their manuals paint a portrait of an evil monster, not a human being. Every morning, after they have crouched in their foxholes for a while, they each climb a ladder to the top to peer over the edge. "Every morning, I shoot at him. Then he shoots at me." For the rest of the day they lay low, just passing the time away. Each one gets hungry, but it is a waiting game. Finally when the soldier is starving he lights a fire. Very soon after that, "the enemy lights his." The manual says all kinds of things about this "wild beast." It says hey have "nothing in common" and that he'd better kill him first before he kills all of them, their families, pets and destroys their way of life. In the meantime, war goes on in the foxholes. It's been a long time and the waiting game seems like forever. Sometimes the soldier wonders if they have been forgotten. Food and water and the lack of it is becoming a problem. Is all this really necessary? He climbs out of his hole and goes to the enemy foxhole, but finds no one there. But, oddly enough there are pictures of his family. Hmmm and he has a manual too. He now realizes the enemy is in his foxhole. What will happen if he tries to call a truce? This is a very simple tale with very simple line drawing illustrations that packs a wallop in the message department. It reminds me of the old saying about peace, love and hope only this little story comes from two stick figures playing a waiting game to see who can kill each other first to end a senseless and seemingly endless war. The most touching part is when the little soldier says, "There are pictures of his family . . . I wasn't expecting him to have a family." Do you think anyone in the enemy forces has a family?