Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor

Frank McCoy and Stanley Summer, both navy brats, live on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. They spend much of their free time working on their ideas for comic books. Frank is the writer and Stanley, who is half-Japanese, the artist. The boys are offered a tour of the USS Utah on Sunday morning by Brooks, the boyfriend of Frank’s sister. Just as they start their tour, planes fly in low and start dropping bombs and torpedoes all over Pearl Harbor.

Alan Gratz has written a real page-turner of a novel that will give young readers a taste of what it would have been like to survive the bombing of Pearl Harbor and how the attack changed things from everyone, but more for those Americans of Japanese ancestry. Told in first-person point-of-view from Frank’s perspective, the tale will grab young readers and keep their attention fully engaged as they learn about this dark period.

A sample comic book that Frank and Stanley might have made is included as well as an extensive author’s note filled with excellent historical information. Gratz’s superb research shines through on every page of this very exciting novel. Not to be missed.