A Journal for Jordan (2008)

A former Army brat-turned-big-city reporter, Dana Canedy never planned to end up with a military man. But she fell in love with Sgt. Charles King, and they stayed together through years of tumultuous separation, he at various military bases, and she at The New York Times. When he was killed in Iraq in 2006, after spending only a single two-week furlough with their then-7-month-old son, Jordan, she channeled her grief into A Journal for Jordan, turning the tale of their life together — and of King's tragic death, one month before the end of his tour of duty — into a story for their son, with excerpts from King's own journal. Canedy's often workmanlike prose style somewhat mutes the book's power, but it's impossible not to be affected by her story. B