Reviews
Review By Diane Chen, School Library Journal
While Piper Reed is a favorite of grades K-2 at my school, 100 Days and 99 Nights will join them and also become a favorite book for middle-grade (3 & 4) students to cuddle with as they try to understand the larger concepts of duty and war.
In fact, all adults struggle with this, so go ahead and put this timeless novel in your collections, particularly if you live in a community where some student’s parents deploy and others don’t. This novel does not attempt to argue politics or solve the grown-up problems of the universe. It simply shows one family’s attempt to deal with duty, responsibility and doing your best while marking time. All from the perspective of 8 year old Esme.
Here are some of my favorite moments:
Esme and Martina whispering why there are so many single-shoes alongside roads.
FUSTILUGS – (you’ll have to read it, readers, to get it & hope I didn’t call you it)
The kitchen conversation:
“Duty” is what the army calls it when you have to do something that no one in the whole entire universe really wants to do.
“But why?” asked Ike, who was too young to understand the word duty and old enough to really love the word why?
Our minds raced around the short silence, trying to figure out possible reasons for his leaving.
“Because my commander says so, and when he says so, in the army we just do.”
It might not hurt to have a hankie handy when you read about Esme’s doing her duty not to cry. I wanted to scoop up that whole family and pass out hankies.
To author Alan Madison, thank you for my quiet moments and happy ending. Turpentine to you.
Review By Yennie Cheung, Hipster Book Club
With the war continuing in the Middle East, 100 Days and 99 Nights is more than just a timely read. It is a very real look into the thoughts and fears of children whose parents are sent into battle every day. Those who can relate to Esme and her family will be reminded that they are not alone, while others may be enlightened by the sometimes imperceptible stress that military children face. Though this is written for elementary school-aged kids, 100 Days and 99 Nights is essential reading for anyone who interacts with children on a regular basis.
Kirkus Reviews
Second-grade army brat Esmerelda Swishback McCarther knows all about duty. Uncle Sam has moved her family to Korea, then Kenya, then Germany, before finally depositing them back in the "good ol' U. S. of A." Then one day, during their Saturday morning pancake-making ritual, her father breaks the news that he will be gone on a tour of duty for 100 days and 99 nights. Though Esme is glad that the family doesn't have to move again, she is dismayed at the thought of being without her father. The 100 days turn out to be difficult ones, as do the 99 nights, which are filled with nightmares. To get through them, Esme gets her second-grade class involved in home-front efforts such as a scrap-metal drive and riding their bicycles to and from school to save gas. Although the humor is occasionally off-the-mark and the narrative as a whole is sometimes heavy handed, Madison provides a serviceable and much-needed vehicle for discussing military life and the psychological effects of war on families, particularly children, in modern-day America.
Review by D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH
Esmerelda Swishback McCarther has spent most of her seven years living in four different countries on four different continents with her military family. Arriving back in the United States, she and her brother begin school in a suburb of Washington, DC. Unfortunately, her father must leave for a tour of duty–100 days and 99 nights. Saddened and fearful for him, Esme gives him the precious remnant square from her "blankie" to take with him. While he is away, she struggles to remain dutiful and strong, traits that her family values. Madison authentically portrays the stresses experienced not only at home but also in the classrooms of children whose loved ones are away at war. When Esme and her friend Martina spearhead a project to help the troops by collecting scrap metal, the entire community becomes involved and the news reaches her father, who proclaims Esme a hero. This is a light yet realistic novel about a reality well known to many American families. All branches of the armed forces are featured in some capacity although Esme’s father is a sergeant in the Army.