This children's book won a 2006 award for Mildred L. Batchelder Award for outstanding translated by Michael Hofmann. I am shocked that it won this award.
I found it slow and tedious with either the writing, editing or translation terrible. There were dangling sentences and the writing was dry with no life. I did not feel it "allows readers to understand the horrors of war" (Napoleonic), but rather found that the writing which reads like a Dick and Jane book, made war dull and boring - hard task to accomplish.
I agree with the reviewer from Booklist on this.
Posted by at February 18, 2006 05:28 PM