• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

  (Flash is loading. If this text does not disappear you need to install the latest flash version)

  Not age appropriate for kids under 9, age appropriate for kids over 12; suggested age 12.

• Is it any good?

  4.0

• Common Sense says

  Unique African-American woman's WWII experience.

Why We Rated This for Ages 12 and Up

The good stuff

• Educational value:

  Explores the often-overlooked role of African-American women in WWII.
• Messages:

  Mare is a devoted older sister, always trying to protect her younger sibling. Mare runs away from home, lies about her age, and joins the Women's Army. Mare lets Octavia drive, even though she is not old enough to have a permit. Mare faces segregation and discrimination in the Army, with "Whites Only" signs. Mare faces her fears and sticks with her training even when it's difficult. She overcomes her pride and agrees to lessons on speaking proper English. Mare's mother refuses to write her. Mare's husband cheats on her and she leaves him.
• Role models:

  Mare is an admirable, but by no means perfect, character.

What to watch out for

• Violence:

  When her mother's drunken boyfriend comes into the girls' bedroom (with a suggestion that he wants to molest her younger sister), Mare fights him with a hatchet. He dislocates her shoulder and pounds her head against a wall until their mother fires a shotgun and scares him off. Men get into a fight over racist comments. One man says, "We strung up a big ugly nigra like you back home." Mare trains for war duty and spends time in England, where bombs drop.
• Sex:

  Mare's aunt tells her younger sister that "the army has you girls there to keep the men happy." She also says to "watch out for certain kinds of mannish girls up there." Women go on dates. Tali tells Mare to "check out the hottie" in tight black jeans. 
• Language:

  Some of the Army women use disparaging terms for people of other nationalities, including "Japs," "dagos," and "Krauts." A racist man calls an African-American Red Cross worker a "boy," "coon," and "uppity nigra."
• Consumerism:

  Mare and her friends use some of their wages to buy clothes and toiletries. Mare pays for the girls to buy souvenirs at every stop along the drive.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  Mare's mother drinks whiskey. Mare eats "tipsy cake" soaked in sour mash whiskey and drinks a fruit drink with gin. As an adult, Mare smokes cigarettes. Tali orders a Kahlua and cream, arguing that it contains as much alcohol as vanilla. (She gets in trouble for it.)

What Parents Need to Know

About Mare's War

Families Can Talk About