Attack on Pearl Harbor - Hardcover

Shelley Tanaka's own Japanese-American relatives were sent to internment camps during World War II. She is the author of several books in the I Was There series, and lives in Toronto, Canada.

Gr 4-6-Tanaka's brief account of the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is not of the quality of some of her previous titles. In three rambling chapters and an epilogue, four people are introduced and followed: Peter Nottage, a Caucasian seventh-grade boy; Mitsuo Fuchida, Commander of the Japanese Fleet; George DeLong, a seaman aboard the USS Oklahoma; and Kazuo Sakamaki, midget submariner, who became the first prisoner of war taken by the U.S. The account of the attack is basically accurate, but gives not a hint of Yamamoto's extensive planning. The text implies that most of the U.S. servicemen stationed in Hawaii were either drunks or ill prepared as soldiers and sailors when, in reality, they were unsuspecting and uninformed. No mention is made of the information that Washington was later found to have withheld from military leaders stationed there. Unfortunately, the attractive cover and illustrations do not salvage the text. Full-page and page-and-a-half paintings are replete with action. Colorful maps and diagrams are thorough and detailed, though the arrangement is sometimes confusing. There is no table of contents, but the chapters are titled. The text concludes with a one-page story of teenager Daniel Inouye helping the Red Cross after the attack. The epilogue leaves many questions about the main characters unanswered. Earle Rice Jr.'s The Bombing of Pearl Harbor (Lucent, 2000) is a much better selection.

Eldon Younce, Harper Elementary School, KS

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