George Sullivan
I've owned this book since my elementary school really-into-World-War-II phase, and both then and now I find it an inspiring, well-written, and age-appropriate account of seven daring prisoner-of-war escapes on both sides of the battlefield. Though the accounts of German and Japanese escapes are told with a slight slant toward the Allied point of view, that they are included is admirable, and together the collection of stories illuminates several different means of escape, as well as paying tribute to soldiers of several nationalities. Each account is crisply written and easy to understand, with Sullivan providing appropriate background information on the war and, when appropriate, the prisons, without glossing over crucial facts. The soldiers are profiled based on their own words, and though the dialogue is almost certainly fictitious, it helps break up the mostly-prose accounts, each of which includes follow-up information on the success of each attempt. From the horrors of the Bataan peninsula to the famous Great Escape from Stalag Luft III deep in Germany, Sullivan covers tunnels, impersonations, and one very daring, but deadly, mass breakout, all with a muted, but evident compassion. Throughout the stories, the book weaves a greater narrative about the impulse to escape, hinting at deeper psychological motives but never straying from its core audience of late-elementary school readers. Often dripping with suspense and with the palpable threat of discovery or, later, re-capture, the stories in Great Escapes of World War II are excellently molded to enlighten and entertain kids interested in this facet of the war.
Grade: A
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