Synopses & Reviews
When Jess's dad ships out to Afghanistan, she wants nothing more than to feel close to him once again. So, she rounds up her friends, Sam and Meriwether, to form the Order of the Oleander, a club that collects school supplies for Afghan orphans. But Jess's delight in the Order's success turns to horror as breaking news reveals that as the soldiers unloaded the latest shipment of supplies, a bomb went off near the orphanage, killing troops and civilians alike. Jess is relieved to discover her father was only injured, but dismayed to hear that Meriwether's mother was killed....and Meri believes it is Jess's fault. Abandoned by her friends, shunned by the community, and commanded by the general to shut down the Order, Jess is suddenly thrust into political media firestorm with no backup but her father's emails. Valerie O. Patteron's literary prose is deeply evocative and emotional, conveying Jess' agony as she struggles to reconcile her affection for Afghan orphans with her love and loyalty to the American armed forces in this stunning contemporary drama.
Review
"Many young readers will identify with the day-to-day trepidation felt by Jess, Meriwether, and the other families living on the base."
—VOYA, 3Q 4P M J
Review
"Many young readers will identify with the day-to-day trepidation felt by Jess, Meriwether, and the other families living on the base."
—VOYA, 3Q 4P M J
"Full of detail about Army life, Patterson's elegant prose brings readers deep inside Jess's conflicted point of view and the many stresses she is under, as she reevaluates her role as a member of a military family."
—Publishers Weekly
"Patterson poignantly depicts war's effect on those at home as Jess and her friends absorb and react to the events. This solid novel joins the growing number of books illustrating the war's effect on Afghan people."
—Booklist
"Patterson has an amazing ability to convey the tension and fear that families and friends of deployed soldiers bear every day and the heart-stopping terror when news programs show violence against troops that may result in one of their loved ones being wounded or dead."
—School Library Journal
"Patterson writes with compassion for both sides of this thorny issue, and her steady focus on the emotional trauma of the stateside teens keeps the story from devlolving into a coolly cerebral exercise in anti-terrorism strategy."
—Bulletin
Synopsis
A stunning contemporary YA drama about a soldiers daughter whose efforts to help Afghan orphans creates a political firestorm over the ethics of war and charity.
Synopsis
Ninth-grader Jess Westmark had the best of intentions when she started Operation Oleander to raise money for a girls orphanage in Kabul. She named her charity for the oleander that grows both in her Florida hometown and in Afghanistan, where her father is deployed. But on one of her father's trips to deliver supplies to the orphans, a car bomb explodes nearby and her father is gravely injured. Worse, her best friends mother and some of the children are killed, and people are blaming Operation Oleander for turning the orphanage into a military target for the Taliban. Is this all Jesss fault?
Synopsis
“Full of detail about Army life, Patterson’s elegant prose brings readers deep inside Jess’s conflicted point of view.” —Publishers Weekly
Ninth grader Jess Westmark had the best of intentions when she started Operation Oleander to raise money for a girls’ orphanage in Kabul. She named her charity for the flower that grows both in her Florida hometown and in Afghanistan, where her father is deployed. But on one of her father's trips to deliver supplies to the orphans, a car bomb explodes nearby and her father is gravely injured. Worse, her best friend’s mother and some of the children are killed. Is this all Jess’s fault?
Synopsis
Cyan was named after a shade of blue, her artist mother's favorite color. The color of the sea. Since her father's death last year, shes felt just as mercurial and dark as her namesake, and the distance between Cyan and her mother has grown as wide as an ocean. Now they're returning to the island of Curaçao in the Caribbean, where her father's mysterious accident occurred, and joining them will be Kammi--who may soon become a stepsister. Haunted by the secrets of the past, Cyan will explore all the depths of her blueness this summer, discovering the light, the darkness, and the many shades in between that are within her—and within us all.
About the Author
Valerie O. Patterson holds an MFA in Children's Literature from Hollins University, where she twice received the Shirley Henn Award for Creative Scholarship. She has also won a Work-in-Progress Award for her writing from the SCBWI. Valerie is an attorney in her day job and lives with her husband in Leesburg, Virginia.