Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers / 309 pages / October Challenge Banned Books

Fallen Angels was challenged on the Accelerated Reader list at Chinquapin Elementary School in Duplin County, North Carolina (2008) because the book is littered with expletives including racial epithets and slang terms for homosexuals.  It was also challenged in Coeur D'Alene Idaho school district (2007).  There is no doubt that the language is shocking, objectionable, and inappropriate, however, it sounds realistic.  Fallen Angels is a graphic depiction of young soldiers facing a nebulous enemy in the fields and villages of Viet Nam.  Mr. Myers does an excellent job of making the war, and soldiers' reactions to it and each other, memorable.  Why can't these Viet Nam veterans receive the respect we afford other vets?