104 pages 3 hours read

Alan Gratz

Grenade

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018

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Chapters 11-20

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary: “Hideki: How to Surrender”

Hideki, running from the failed battle, falls over the dead body of his principal, who has been killed by a shell while on his mission with the photos of the emperor. Hideki decides to complete his principal’s task; he will take the photos to safety to protect the emperor’s mabui. A leaflet is dropped by an American plane, written in Japanese, explaining how to surrender. Hideki crumples it.

Hideki decides to take the emperor's photos to his family's tomb and feels a new sense of purpose. He remembers being at the family tomb with his sister Kimiko, who angrily told Hideki that he needed to stand up to himself against bullies like Yoshio.

At the tomb, Hideki is shocked to find his father Oto.

Part 1, Chapter 12 Summary: “Ray: Fire in the Hole”

Ray exits a tomb where an Okinawan family has been killed by a grenade. He points out that using grenades in the tombs and caves is killing innocent people. Sergeant Meredith reminds him that another cave contained a Japanese machine gun nest and soldiers, but concedes that they could use smoke grenades to drive people out of the cave rather than immediately killing them. Sergeant Meredith reprimands another soldier for using Ray’s last name—Majors—instead of Ray or “Barbeque.