Lord Of The Nutcracker Men

Ten-year-old Johnny eagerly plays at war with the army of nutcracker soldiers his toymaker father whittles for him. But in 1914, Germany looms as the real enemy of Europe, and Johnny's father proudly enlists to fight at the front in France. Johnny misses his dad and believes he will return in a few months. It is not to be. As letters arrive from Johnny's dad, they reveal the ugly realities of combat--and the soldiers he carves and encloses begin to bear its scars. Still, Johnny adds the soldiers to his armies of Huns, Tommies, and Frechmen, engaging them in furious fights. But when these games seem to foretell his dad's real battles, Johnny thinks he possesses godlike powers over his wooden men. He fears he controls his father's fate, the lives of all the soldiers in no-man's land, and the outcome of the war itself.