When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Seeing Their Story in Books



 Jeremy Van Wyk, the State Youth Coordinator for the Iowa National Guard, has put together a great list of books that deal with issues affecting military children.  Though most of the books are for young children, a few are meant for older readers.  One of these is entitled My Story: Blogs by Four Military Teens, by Michelle D. Sherman, PhD, and DeAnne M. Sherman (Beaver's Pond Press, Inc. ISBN 9781592983032).  The book is a series of blogs by four military teens expressing their feelings and experiences before, during, and after parental deployment. According to Van Wyk, "it provides support and education for all military teens and pre-teens by honoring their unique joys and sacrifices, addressing their fears and hopes, and exploring how parental deployment affects their lives." The four bloggers in "My Story" are fictional and their blogs are created by the Shermans, but the stories are based on the true experiences of military kids the authors know. "My Story" can also serve as a tool to help non-military teens understand the experiences of others. 

The children's books have the typical assortment of animal characters as focal points, lots of interactive ideas, and upbeat, imaginative story lines.  One that sounds particularly interesting is A Year Without Dad, by Jodi Brunson (Ithaca Press ISBN 0974068314). The story is designed to give children a clearer picture of how long a year might feel  when the parent is deployed.
Posted by About AART at 7:41 AM

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