Name of Book: Who Won the War?
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
ISBN: 0-385-73141-8
Publisher: Delacorte press
Part of a Series: This is the last book of the series. A list of all the books in the series is below::
1. The Boys Start the War (September)
2. The Girls Get Even (October)
3. Boys Against Girls (November)
4. The Girls’ Revenge (December)
5. A Traitor Among the Boys (January)
6. A Spy Among the Girls (February)
7. The Boys Return (March)
8. The Girls Take Over (April)
9. Boys in Control (May)
10. Girls Rule! (June)
11. Boys Rock! (July)
12. Who Won the War? (August)
Type of book: Girl vs Boy, humor, pranks
Year it was published: 2006
Characters:
There is way more friendship between the Malloy and Hatford siblings in this book, aside from Edie and Jake who have an extremely competitive attitude and would rather get tortured than admit they’ll miss one another. Of course the fun doesn’t stop, and there’s not a lot of character development or personality development. I honestly would have liked a final book to have included an epilogue as to what happened, but alas it doesn’t. But it’s still nice for the characters to get along.
Theme:
Sometimes wishes that come true are not for the best.
Plot:
Who Won The War is written in third person narrative from Caroline’s and Wally’s point of view. Considering that this is the last book of the Boy/Girl series, I would have loved to see an epilogue to see how the Hatford brothers and Malloy sisters have ended up. Did they achieve fame and recognition? Did Caroline become a famous actress like she wanted? Did Beth and Josh get married? These questions are up to the reader to imagine. In some parts Who Won the War? does retain the sparkle of the first few books, but these times are far and few in-between. I am glad to have just finished the series.
Author Information:
Born on January 4th, 1933, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor had written about 125 novels as of 2006. When asked how she came up with the idea for the Boy/Girl Battle books, she tells an anecdote of waiting to speak to large group of boys and girls, and how both groups were noisy. When they were threatened to sit in boy-girl-boy-girl pattern, they instantly fell quiet. Who Won the War? just like her previous books is set in West Virginia, in particular the town of Buckman is based on where her husband grew up. She has two grown sons and three grandchildren.
Opinion:
It is August, a year since the Malloys moved into the Bensons’ house. Summer vacation is almost over and a heatwave settles over Buckman, West Virginia like a blanket of snow. The Malloy sisters are moving back to Ohio, but not before more pranks are played against the Hatford brothers which include the disappearing underwear trick, daring one another to go to a local mine, lots of reminisces about the past pranks, and even living together. Yes, living together. The Malloy sisters settling into the Hatford brothers’ house for almost a week due to power outage and then coping with one another plus an unexpected infestation of ladybugs. I was sad about the Malloy sisters going back to Ohio, but part of me was relieved that there weren’t more books to read afterwards, and I think an epilogue or something should have been written. Perhaps it’s up to the reader’s imagination to figure out what happens to the Malloy sisters and Hatford brothers.
Also, there’s an important question that Phyllis Reynolds Naylor touches upon in Who Won the War – Who is ultimately the victor? Is it the Hatford brothers or the Malloy sisters? Read and find out.
3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
