BOY HEROES OF CHAPULTAPEC

A light novel about the patriotic death of the seven cadets at Chapultapec Military College just before the end of the Mexican War in 1847. Domingo, son of a rich hacienda owner Don Luis, is the principle cadet, but rather than his story, it is the adventures of fourteen year old Pedro, one of Don Luis' peons and a friend of Domingo's. Among a string of deeds fantastic for his age, Pedro organizes the hacienda's workers in time to join Gen. Scott after Don Luis and family have fled, goes with the Americans to Mexico City, and at the siege is seconds too late to save his young master Domingo from jumping off a Chapultapec wall. Obscurity of issues-for example the exact reasons why the cadets refused to leave their fort- and heavy emphasis on American virtues versus the vices of Santa Anna, weaken historical value in an otherwise fast moving account.