Island War
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Two young Americans must evade capture by Axis soldiers--and outlast the brutal Alaskan winter--in this thrilling historical novel which shines a light on a little-known facet of World War II.
Fourteen-year-old Matt never wanted to come to the remote Aleutian Islands--he was dragged here by his father for reasons he can't understand. Eleven-year-old Izzy, on the other hand, loves it--the wild weather, the strange birds, all the new people she's meeting. The two have little in common, except their hometown--they certainly aren't friends.
But when Japanese soldiers land on the island, Izzy and Matt are the only ones who escape being shipped off to a prison camp. The two kids must put their differences aside and work together if they're going to survive. With a long, harsh winter ahead of them, they'll need to dodge Axis soldiers and withstand Allied bombing raids--and keep the village dog from giving them away to the enemy, too.
Told in alternating point-of-view chapters, Island War is set amidst the Japanese occupation of the remote Aleutian Islands--the only foreign invasion of the United States that took place during World War II. Fans of Hatchet and Julie of the Wolves will be riveted by two-time Newbery Honoree Patricia Reilly Giff's thrilling story of survival, resilience, and the power of cooperation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1941, two sparring Connecticut schoolmates travel to Attu, a remote island off the coast of Alaska. Sensitive Izzy, 11, is thrilled to visit the island that her late father loved, and the trip with her ornithologist mother is a welcome break from school. Matt begrudgingly travels to Attu with his gruff father, who is on a secret assignment for the U.S. government. Izzy and Matt's antagonistic relationship endures on the island (creating unrelenting mutual suspicion), even after the U.S. enters WWII and they are the only two who escape deportation to a prison camp by invading Japanese soldiers. Told from their alternating perspectives, the story becomes one of survival as the kids battle hunger and the cold, and use their wits to avoid capture by soldiers. Tension escalates significantly after Matt is injured in a fall and they take shelter in a cave, and, as fighter planes darken the sky, the two devise a plan to inform the Americans overhead that they are friend rather than foe. Though some repetition in the action scenes slows the suspense a bit, Giff (Genevieve's War) introduces believable protagonists with distinctive, memorable voices who survive dire circumstances. Ages 8 12.
