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The Things a Brother Knows

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The Things a Brother Knows

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Overview

The story of a young marine’s return from war in the Middle East and the psychological effects it has on his family.

Finally, Levi Katznelson’s older brother, Boaz, has returned. Boaz was a high school star who had it all and gave it up to serve in a war Levi can’t understand. Things have been on hold since Boaz left. With the help of his two best friends Levi has fumbled his way through high school, weary of his role as little brother to the hero.

But when Boaz walks through the front door after his tour of duty is over, Levi knows there’s something wrong. Boaz is home, safe. But Levi knows that his brother is not the same.

Maybe things will never return to normal. Then Boaz leaves again, and this time Levi follows him, determined to understand who his brother was, who he has become, and how to bring him home again.

Award-winning author Dana Reinhardt introduces readers to Levi, who has never known what he believes, and whose journey reveals truths only a brother knows.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375897627
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/14/2010
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 - 16 Years

About the Author

Dana Reinhardt lives in San Francisco with her husband and their two daughters. She is the author of A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, Harmless, and How to Build a House.
Visit her at www.danareinhardt.net.

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Gr 7 Up—Dana Reinhart's emotional journey (Random/Wendy Lamb Books. 2010) about a soldier's homecoming and the guilt and trauma that accompanies him is told from his brother Levi's point of view. Levi knows that his older brother Boaz joined the military a man and has come back a ghost. Boaz was a star high school student and gave up everything to fight in "some desert country half a world away." Levi just wants life to return to the way it was prior to the war. Levi searches to discover why his brother has changed. When Boaz announces that he is leaving to hike the Appalachian Trail, Levi sets out to follow him to discover what he's been through and bring him home again. Narrator Joshua Swanson brings many strong characters to life with perfect intonations and accents, from Levi and Boaz to Abba, their father who grew up speaking Hebrew, to their grandfather, Dove, who grew up in Israel and joined the army at 18. Levi's best friends Pearl, who is a giddy flirt, and Zim, a slacker, add a bit of levity. Readers will be left with memorable characters engrained in their minds long after they're through listening and will gain insight into the psychological consequences of war.—Janet Weber, Tigard Public Library, OR

School Library Journal

With exceptional sensitivity, Reinhardt (How to Build a House) chronicles a soldier’s troubling homecoming, in this timely novel told from his younger brother’s point of view. Three years after joining the Marines and serving overseas, Levi Katznelson’s brother, Boaz, returns to his Boston suburb a hero. But he seems to be a different person: withdrawn and uncommunicative. After isolating himself from the family, Boaz announces his plans to hike the Appalachian Trail, yet Levi suspects his brother has another itinerary in mind. Using a route marked on a map Boaz left behind, Levi follows Boaz’s path and eventually catches up with him. Walking side by side with his brother all the way to Washington, D.C., visiting ex-Marines and soldiers’ families along the way, Levi learns more about his brother’s experiences--like why he’s stopped riding in automobiles--than Boaz can explain outright. Refraining from making political judgments about current conflicts, Reinhardt personalizes a soldier’s traumas in terms civilians can understand. Levi’s growing comprehension of Boaz’s internal turmoil is gracefully and powerfully evoked. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2010:
"The emotional journey is leavened with humor and a little romance, but it moves toward the conclusion with an inevitability that grabs and doesn't let go. Every character contributes and brings a point of view that adds to a fuller picture of the personal consequences of war without being simplistically pro or anti. Powerful."

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, August 30, 2010:
"With exceptional sensitivity, Reinhardt (How to Build a House) chronicles a soldier’s troubling homecoming, in this timely novel told from his younger brother’s point of view . . . Reinhardt personalizes a soldier’s traumas in terms civilians can understand. Levi’s growing comprehension of Boaz’s internal turmoil is gracefully and powerfully evoked."

Starred Review, Booklist, October 1, 2010:
"Reinhardt’s poignant story of a soldier coping with survivor’s guilt and trauma, and his Israeli American family’s struggle to understand and help, is timely and honest."

From the Publisher

Joshua Swanson recounts the story of a troubled vet, Boaz, recently returned from the Middle East, and his conflicted younger brother, Levi. “Boaz went in the military as a man and came back a ghost,” claims Levi, who is so determined to bust through his brother’s monosyllabic shell that he stalks him on a long trek from Baltimore to Washington, DC. The plans works eventually; conversation evolves, and so does Levi’s understanding of war and kin. Swanson has the tempo and temperament of the brothers down pat. The boys’ Israeli father and grandfather give Swanson a chance to demonstrate his Hebrew accent as they try to reach Boaz. Swanson’s narration of Levi’s colorful friendships and first romance is delivered as a counterpoint to the traumas of war. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2011 - AudioFile

Levi's older brother Boaz enlisted in the Marines after graduating from high school rather than attend an elite university as expected. Levi has felt the distance grow between them prior to and throughout his enlistment. Now, Boaz—renamed Bo—is returning home from the Middle East. The person who arrives bears little resemblance to his previous self, holing up in his room and barely communicating. When Bo announces his intention of hiking the Appalachian Trail, Levi (who has snooped in Bo's Internet history) knows better. With a little help from best friends Pearl and Zim, he joins Bo on his personal hegira. The first-person, present-tense narration takes readers steadily toward the core of what has happened to Bo. Levi's reflections and observations are crisply apt and express essentials succinctly. The emotional journey is leavened with humor and a little romance, but it moves toward the conclusion with an inevitability that grabs and doesn't let go. Every character contributes and brings a point of view that adds to a fuller picture of the personal consequences of war without being simplistically pro or anti. Powerful. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

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