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Age 14 | LitPick Book Reviews
Age 14
Age 14
Age 14
Geert Spillebeen
Set during the First World War, Age 14 is a heartbreaking and powerful story about growing up quickly in the face of war. Twelve-year-old Patrick Condon wants to escape his impoverished and tedious life in Ballybricken, County Waterford, so he hatches a plan. Not wanting to wait until he is old enough to join at sixteen, Patrick gives the army the name, John, and age, seventeen, of his older brother, and is enlisted. In the army, Patrick, now John, makes friends easily. The man's world is just what he always desired; if only there was more action. John gets all the action he is looking for when the war breaks out following the murder of the Austrian Crown Prince in 1914. Before he knows it, he is training with bayonets but it is nearly a game so long as no blood is spilled. The battle seems so far away. But the war is very real, and it is only a matter of time before John is at the front of it all. Based on a true story, this faction is about dreams, about war and peace, and the lives lost to achieve both. It is about a young boy named Patrick, and named John, the adventure and glory he so craved, and the tragic way he achieved both.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Adventure
  • Biography
  • Educational
  • Historical Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
Profile Picture

Patrick Condon in 12-years old in Ireland in 1913. Bored with his everyday life, he leaves home and runs away to join the army. He says he is seventeen years old, takes the name of his older brother, and is known from then on as John Condon. One year later, World War I breaks out and John is swept up in the excitement and adventure. He joins his friends at the front and has his mind set on becoming a hero. No one could have predicted the disastrous end of this young boy's quest to become a hero.

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