A well-researched account of one American family during a little-known episode of World War II.
The true story of a family caught in a U-boat attack in U.S. waters.
In May 1942, the White American Downs family—8-year-old Sonny, 11-year-old Lucille, and their parents—boarded a nonmilitary freighter for a one-week journey from Costa Rica to New Orleans. However, just hours before reaching Louisiana, their ship was attacked by German U-boat commander Erich Würdemann and his dedicated crew in the Gulf of Mexico. Part of Operation Drumbeat, their goal was to sink as much seafaring tonnage, military or civilian, as possible. When the family was separated during the U-boat attack, it took all of their courage, hope, and luck to survive. A stand-alone book in the True Rescue series, this title is the young reader’s edition of So Close to Home (2016). A prologue establishing characters and settings is followed by three parts: before the attack, during and immediately following the attack, and the aftermath. Filled with details from primary sources, including letters, interviews, newspapers, war diaries, and more, the third-person narrative swiftly switches, highlighting different members of the Downs’ family and two U-boat commanders. The Downs family’s upright wholesomeness and their complete belief in the American dream bypasses many opportunities for authentic emotional exploration. Although the tone feels academic at times, quotes from letters and diaries evoke the historical era.
A well-researched account of one American family during a little-known episode of World War II. (authors’ note, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 11-16)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12806-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Intrepid explorer Lourie tackles the “Father of Waters,” the Mighty Mississippi, traveling by canoe, bicycle, foot, and car, 2,340 miles from the headwaters of the great river at the Canadian border to the river’s end in the Gulf of Mexico. As with his other “river titles” (Rio Grande, 1999, etc.), he intertwines history, quotes, and period photographs, interviews with people living on and around the river, personal observations, and contemporary photographs of his journey. He touches on the Native Americans—who still harvest wild rice on the Mississippi, and named the river—loggers, steamboats, Civil War battles, and sunken treasure. He stops to talk with a contemporary barge pilot, who tows jumbo-sized tank barges, or 30 barges carrying 45,000 tons of goods up and down and comments: “You think ‘river river river’ night and day for weeks on end.” Lourie describes the working waterway of locks and barges, oil refineries and diesel engines, and the more tranquil areas with heron and alligators, and cypress swamps. A personal travelogue, historical geography, and welcome introduction to the majestic river, past and present. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-56397-756-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
If Freedman wrote the history textbooks, we would have many more historians. Beginning with an engrossing description of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, he brings the reader the lives of the American colonists and the events leading up to the break with England. The narrative approach to history reads like a good story, yet Freedman tucks in the data that give depth to it. The inclusion of all the people who lived during those times and the roles they played, whether small or large are acknowledged with dignity. The story moves backwards from the Boston Tea Party to the beginning of the European settlement of what they called the New World, and then proceeds chronologically to the signing of the Declaration. “Your Rights and Mine” traces the influence of the document from its inception to the present ending with Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. The full text of the Declaration and a reproduction of the original are included. A chronology of events and an index are helpful to the young researcher. Another interesting feature is “Visiting the Declaration of Independence.” It contains a short review of what happened to the document in the years after it was written, a useful Web site, and a description of how it is displayed and protected today at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. Illustrations from the period add interest and detail. An excellent addition to the American history collection and an engrossing read. (Nonfiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1448-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
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