Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam

Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam
Cynthia Kadohata
Historical fiction 1

WOW!! This book was intense. I absolutely loved it. I am a dog lover and I am from a military family, so this book really hit home for me. I have heard story after story about how different family members being in Vietnam, hearing this made me think about all of those stories.

From the very beginning It had me wrapped. I could feel the pain the little boy, Willie, was going through at the thought of getting rid of his dog. It had me balling. All I could think of was getting rid of any of my dogs! It was so rough! The story is told from the point of view of both Cracker, a German Sheppard, and Rick, who joins the Army. I really enjoyed how the author really emphasized the relationship between the dogs and the dog handler. It was nice to see that Cracker did not want to listen to Rick or really any of the military personnel for that matter. It was clear that Cracker was one of the best dogs in training. When they made it to Vietnam, I was so nervous something bad was going to happen to Rick or Cracker. It made me not want to put the book down. Because this is a book about war, I knew something bad was eventually going to happen. When a series of events happened, I was balling. All of my family was laughing at me, but I could not put the book down. It was hard for me to read this book, because I am a military child. I knew a lot of people that fought in the war or are fighting in the war now. I would read passages and think of some of my good friends in Iraq.

The bond that Rick and Cracker created between one another was so strong. It shows you really can connect between different animals. It also showed how much the soldiers depended on these dogs. The dogs were closer companions than the other soldiers around them. They were everything to these men. They were their life line. I loved how the book really emphasized that point a lot of different ways. The ending of the book was great! I loved how it had a choice ending, you were not really sure which way it would go. I loved that part of it. It made it more exciting to read the book and find out what happened!