Blame it on the Black Star

Westbrook Washington is a bright 14-year-old African-American boy from Mississippi. He is not worried when his 19-year-old brother, Corey, is shipped off to Iraq with the local National Guard unit "because the war is pretty much over anyway." But West is surprised when he begins receiving letters from Corey who details his experiences in Iraq and his disillusionment with the war.

When Corey is killed by a roadside bomb, West is tasked with writing Corey's obituary for the local newspaper. In the meantime, he teams up with Corey's best friend Ray Ray to find the local Army recruiter who talked Corey into joining the Army so they can beat him up. Along the way, swept up in the anger and confusion over his brother's death, Westbrook steals every American flag in town and burns them at an abandoned train yard. When a WWII veteran who lives near the train yard is critically injured by the fire, both boys realize the potential consequences of their actions and come to understand that childhood is behind them.

I'm a librarian and wrote this book because I could not find contemporary, meaningful books for young adult boys. I wanted to write a book that dealt with the experience many boys are facing - an older brother who joins the Army and is then immediately sent to war. One day you are a high school kid, the next day you are being shot at in a foreign country for no reason.