Caleb's Wars

By David L. Dudley

A powerful novel about growing up black on the World War II home front in the Jim Crow South. Caleb lives in a world at war. War news is on everyone’s mind, and Caleb’s older brother, Randall, is likely to be sent overseas. The presence of German POWs in Caleb’s rural Georgia community is a constant reminder of what’s happening in Europe. Locked in a power struggle with his domineering father and fighting to keep both his temper and his self-respect in dealing with whites, Caleb finds his loyalties shifting and his certainties slipping away. This coming-of-age story, set in a time before the civil rights movement emerged, traces one young man’s growing commitment to justice and to the courage needed to protect it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9780547534206

David L. Dudley

David L. Dudley spent ten years as a parish pastor in the Lutheran Church before turning to university teaching. He is the Chair of the Department of Literature and Philosophy at Georgia Southern University, where he teaches African American literature. He has also taught prison extension courses. His published work includes numerous articles and essays as well as fiction for young readers. Dr. Dudley lives in Twin City, Georgia, with his wife.

Reviews for Caleb's Wars

[kimjd_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

From November 2011 SLJ:
Gr 7-10: In 1944 rural Georgia, 15-year-old Caleb has been taught to step off the sidewalk whenever white folks approach and not to talk back to a white person of any age. His older brother enlists to fight the Nazis and is relegated to an all-black unit supervised by white officers. When Caleb's father beats him one time too many, Caleb approaches Mr. Davis about work. The plantation owner has pulled some strings to get German POWs incarcerated close by, so he has all the field help he needs, but he offers Caleb a dishwashing job in his Dixie Belle Café. Then he decides to bring one of the POWs in to the Dixie Belle to help out in the kitchen. Over time, the soldier proves to be a quiet, steady worker, and slowly he and Caleb develop a friendship. When Caleb's parents get news that their older son has been injured and taken prisoner, he feels guilty about the relationship: How can he be civil to a person who represents the enemy? His confusion grows when he sees several POWs eating at the Dixie Belle: even though the townspeople detest them, the color of their skin allows them to be served. Furious, Caleb sits down, leading to a confrontation with Mr. Davis that provides no easy answers, but hints that his battles are just beginning. Caleb is compelling and believable, and Dudley's rich writing is impressive, clearly showing the various wars black Americans were fighting in the 1940s, both abroad and closer to home.