What is it like to be a young woman in a war? At a time when Israel is in the news every day and politics in the Middle East are as complex as ever before, this story of one girl's experience in the Israeli national army is both topical and fascinating. Valerie begins her story as she finishes her exams, breaks up with her boyfriend, and leaves for service with the Israeli army. Nothing has prepared her for the strict routines, grueling marches, poor food, lack of sleep and privacy, or crushing of initiative that she now faces. But this harsh life has excitement, too, such as working in a spy center near Jerusalem and listening in on Jordanian pilots. Offering a glimpse into the life of a typical Israeli teen, even as it lays bare the relentless nature of war, Valerie's story is one young readers will have a hard time forgetting. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 9 Up-In this compelling memoir, Zenatti, first among her group of friends to be called for compulsory military service, chronicles two years of growing up in the Israeli army between 1988 and 1990. With teen self-absorption, she describes the end of her high school years, her initial excitement with the uniform and gun, and grueling training. At first overwrought and pretentious, her voice matures as she continues her course, suffers an anxiety attack, and is posted to a security listening post. As Zenatti grows away from her old friends and a former boyfriend, she becomes more aware and open to the ideas, interests, and needs of others-even, eventually, to the Palestinians who share her country. It is true, as adults told her, "The army changes everything." Although immersed in the country and the experience at the time, Zenatti retains her outsider perspective. French by origin, she and her family emigrated to Beersheva when she was 13, where she learned Hebrew. Her love of language shines through, and the translation, though undeniably British, is smooth. Journal entries in italics are interspersed with the present-tense narrative. This is a fascinating glimpse of a different part of the world and a different kind of experience. Older readers, facing the end of high school themselves, will be drawn to this description of the interim between childhood and adulthood that is a universal Israeli experience.-Kathleen Isaacs, formerly at Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 8-11. For immigrant Valerie, 18, the required two-year Israeli army service is an exciting rite of passage. She gets to leave home, be considered equal to boys, and feel like a real citizen. The military training fascinates her, even if she misses her bitchy best friends (friends and rivals forever ), and she is haunted by memories of the boyfriend who dumped her. Zenatti's fast, wry, present-tense memoir, translated from the French, begins like a contemporary YA novel: What will I wear? is the important question for Valerie's farewell party. But later, when Valerie confronts the politics and propaganda, she has a breakdown: Who is the enemy? she wonders. Why am I fighting? Zenatti's family immigrated to Israel from France when Valerie was 13 (she now lives in Paris), and much of the memoir's power is in the writer's dual perspective as newcomer and participant. Valerie is entranced by contemporary Israeli diversity and intellectual life, even as she sees Palestinian poverty, sadness, hatred. There is no heavy message. Readers will be swept into Valerie's military experience only to realize she can't justify why she is there. The honest conflict about haunting issues in daily life is prime teen material, and readers on all sides of the war-peace continuum, here and there, will find much to talk about. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2005 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.