Kartoffel Noggin

Book excerpt: Kartoffel Noggin, the fifth installment of the Prairie Preacher series, transports readers from the small North Dakota farming community the Schroeder family calls home to war-torn South Vietnam. The year is 1969, and Andy Schroder, the little boy we first met in Prairie Preacher, is now eighteen and has been drafted by the army to serve in the Vietnam War. During his tour of duty, Andy learns a lot about humanity, morality, and the will to survive. He worries about his family at home, especially his dear Annie who had promised to become his wife. He also befriends a wide variety of characters: Jackson, an Indian boy from South Dakota; Chicago, a young black man from Chicagos inner city; Swede, a tall kid from northern Minnesota; and Bandaid, the medic from Boston. Together, they face death, fear, and tragedy, and forge a special bond that can never be broken. Andys harrowing experiences force him to shed his simplistic attitude toward morality. He discovers that he is capable of things he never imagined, and he witnesses good guys succumb to hatred and bad guys display love and compassion. He soon realizes that when he returns to North Dakota, he will not be the same person he was when he left. Though he may leave Vietnam, Vietnam will never leave him.