A new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Gratz (Refugee; Ground Zero; Two Degrees) is a major publishing moment. A new World War II novel from Alan Gratz? That's even bigger! Get ready for an action-packed, inventive, and powerful take on the attack on Pearl Harbor, as only Alan Gratz can tell it.
December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley have it good. Their dads are Navy pilots stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the boys get a front-row view of the huge battleships and the sparkling water. Yes, World War II is raging in Europe and in Asia, but the US isn't involved in the war, and the boys are free to dream about becoming comic book creators. They've even invented a superhero of their own, in the style of Batman, Superman, Captain America, and other stars of the Golden Age of Comics. Maybe they'll even get their comic published someday.
December 7th, 1941: Everything explodes.
That morning, Frank and Stanley are aboard the battleship the USS Utah when Japanese planes zoom overhead and begin dropping bombs on the ships below. Chaos ensues as everyone scrambles to dive for safety. Frank and Stanley realize what's happening: Japan is attacking America! The war has come to them.
As the boys fight to make their way home amidst the carnage, it's clear that everything has changed. Stanley's mother is Japanese American and he is suddenly facing a terrible prejudice that he's never known before--he's now seen as the "enemy," and Frank, who's white, cannot begin to understand what Stanley will now face. Can their friendship--and their dreams--survive this watershed moment in history?
Told with the immediacy, high-stakes action, and meaningful twists that have made Alan Gratz one of today's biggest authors, this gripping novel tackles themes of bravery, prejudice, and what it means to stand up for what's right. Just as Gratz's Ground Zero became a defining look at 9/11 for middle-grade readers, this book delivers a necessary and unputdownable take on a date that still lives in infamy.
Plus: The book ends with an all-original, 10-page black & white comic that brings to life the comic book idea that Frank and Stanley brainstorm in the novel. The comic is written by Alan Gratz and illustrated by Judit Tondora.---from the publisher
272 pages 978-1338736076 Ages 9-13
Keywords: historical fiction, World War II, heroes, prejudice and racism, friendship, finding your voice, boys's issues, war, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, action/adventure, survival, boys, military history, World War II, American history, 20th century
Read alike: Boy at War by Harry Mazer
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What's normal to you? To Frank and Stanley normal is tooling around in Stanley's boat with Stanley doing all the steering and charting the course and Frank doing all the being along best friend. The two boys' fathers serve in the military and are stationed at Pearl Harbor. That should set your hackles rising a tad. What's also normal for Frank is that his mind is going a mile a minute thinking about sharks and eels and all the what ifs of the terrible things that could happen to them. Frank's normal is being scared of being alive.
Then, a few days later, it happens. One minute the boys are being boys and the next minute the world is exploding all around them. Enjoying a tour of the Utah sitting in the Harbor with a young Navy sailor they know and respect turns into torpedoes coming fast and coming right at the ship where they are standing. They watch as the planes come out of the sky firing and leering and laughing as they come and go delivering so many mothers' sons to the deep and ships to fires.
What's interesting here is that Frank is scared and Stanley is trying to help the sailors he hears knocking out the SOS in Morse Code from where they are trapped below decks. Stanley is half Japanese and he's so smart that he knows what's coming. He knows that Frank won't be the only scared one around him now and he's right and it happens fast.
You know, it's hard to understand someone when you don't know their story. It's easy to judge from the outside when you feel scared and that's what instantly happens in the community where Frank and Stanley have been neighbors and friends.
One of the most amazing parts of this story is watching Frank step out of the story he's been telling himself for a few years now. It was like watching a miracle unfold when he was able to stop being afraid and instead discover he held courage. The line in the book goes something like "I'd found the Real McCoy."
Everyone has a story they have written for themselves about who they are, what they can and can't do. There can be a lot of fear in there driving that story. What a gift this book is for every reader who turns these pages and sees himself in Frank and then has the chance to recognize that he/she/they also can find their own real self underneath the things that hold us all back.
Alan Gratz, ladies and gentlemen. What a gift he has written here. I hope HEROES becomes a One School read book across the country. We could all use it these days.
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
