Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids

Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids recounts the exploits of fifteen teenage reformatory boys evacuated to a remote mountain village in wartime, where they are feared and detested by the local peasants. When plague breaks out, the villagers flee, blockading the boys inside the deserted town. Their brief attempt to build autonomous lives of self-respect, love, and tribal valor is doomed in the face of death and the adult nightmare of war. (site Grove Press)