Soldiers Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

Analyze Charley’s character transformation over the course of the novel. How does combat change him?

Paulsen includes many historical details throughout the novel. Choose three aspects of the novel that are historically accurate. How do these facts enhance the reading experience? What purpose might Paulsen have in blending both fact and fiction?

What battle strategies are employed by Charley’s regiment and the Confederate soldiers? What do the battle settings, positions, and details reveal about how wars were fought in the past?

Charley has several brief yet significant one-on-one interactions. Choose one such interaction and analyze its significance. In other words, why is this brief exchange in the novel?

Analyze Paulsen’s use of diction throughout the novel. How does it contribute other literary elements such as point of view, characterization, and mood?

Choose one of the battles from the novel and research it. How much of Paulsen’s description is historically accurate? Where does he deviate from recorded history? How do his choices to either maintain or change historical facts affect his depiction of Charley?

Explain the significance of the novel’s title and show how its meaning emerges over the course of the text.

What message does the novel send about war? Support your answer with specific plot events that point to the message you identified.