Q:How does this book connect with the theme of “Approaching Adulthood”?

This book is all about growing up while fighting in a war. Tommo is the young narrator and central character in the novel. Even when he is looking back on his childhood, he is barely older than a child, being in his late teens during his service in the war. As he narrates, he is an underage English soldier fighting in Etaples, France, in World War One. He is scared and alone. Throughout his life, he has relied on his older brother, Charlie, for guidance and protection, and this has not changed while they have been in the same regiment together. He is troubled and distracted, becoming philosophical and pondering the existence of heaven and the meaning of everything. He is homesick and longs for the safety of his childhood.