Warrior's Daughter — Maryann Easley

Thirteen-year-old Anne Marie Hayden's eighth grade world falls apart after her father, a USMC gunnery sergeant, is deployed to Iraq. Her mother resorts to an old drinking habit, her best friend dumps her, and she gets stuck with the most unpopular girl in school. It takes courage to read a poem in front of her homeroom class, but she's even more courageous when she places crosses on a hill as a way to measure the cost of war. She faces the consequences of her actions at the final poetry slam, when her injured father comes home. For Anne Marie, this is a life-changing event. She discovers the daughter of a warrior must be a warrior, too.