Scar, J. Albert Mann
Historical fiction
Growing up in the midst of the American revolution, 16-year-old Noah wants desperately to follow his dead father’s ideals and join the Revolutionary Army, but Noah has a bad foot and is unable to join the fighting. He finally gets his chance when a group of British and Iroquois soldiers come to his settlement and burn all of the houses to the ground, killing several colonists in the process. A group of men decide to attack the troops in revenge and they head north, planning to surprise the enemy soldiers. Noah tags along without telling his mother.
But as usual in war, nothing goes as planned. Noah and the rest of the colonists get discovered quickly and lose the element of surprise. The Iroquois and British soldiers are much better trained and better equipped, and soon Noah finds himself in the middle not of a battle, but of a massacre.
Afterwards, he finds himself caring for an injured Iroquois soldier about his own age, and alongside that boy, Noah discovers the brutal truth: no one ever really wins a war.