What are the motifs in Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell?

Coming of age is a recurring idea in the story. One of the primary themes that run throughout the novel is growing up and coming of age, even against adversity, such as having a brother shipped off to war, and then going missing in action (MIA). Jamie struggles with the fact that her coming of age includes having to learn about the atrocities of war and the reality that she might lose her brother in the Vietnam War. Jamie tries to take responsibility for keeping someone else from dying in Vietnam—Private Hollister.