But the road out of Paris is crowded with French refugees trying to escape the advancing Nazis and the going is slow. Suddenly, a swarm of Nazi planes start shooting at the people on the road, and next thing Dave knows, he is waking up under a tree and it is night. As he tries to puzzle things out, Dave sees two headlights and runs out to the center of the road to flag down the approaching vehicle.
The vehicle is an ambulance, driving by a member of the British Volunteer Ambulance Service named Freddy Farmer, 16. Freddy offers Dave a ride and naturally the two boys become fast friends. But they don’t get very far when they are arrested as spies by the Germans. Seems they had unknowingly crossed from France into a Nazi occupied area of Belgium. Their captors continuously interrogate, but when they offer no information, the Colonel in charge has them brought to his office where threatens to have them sh
Ghosts in the Fog is the story of the Japanese invasion of the two of the Aleutian Islands, Attu and Kiska. The Japanese occupied these islands from June 3, 1942 to August 24, 1943. And, I have to be honest and confess that I did not know anything about this invasion of the Aleutians, and by extension the US, since these islands were US territory at the time, so I was really looking forward to reading Seiple's account of it and I was not disappointed.
Seiple begins the history of the Aleutian invasion by introducing the team of US Navy cryptographers who deciphered the messages from Admiral Yamamoto, commander of Japan’s Imperial Fleet, detailing his plan to simultaneously attack the Aleutian and Midway Islands, thereby opening the way for complete Japanese dominance in the Pacific. Unfortunately, Rear Admiral Robert Theobald of the US Navy decided Yamamoto’s messages were a trick and ignored them. Instead, he planned his counterattack 1,000 miles away from the Aleutians. This was a deadly decision for the residents who lived on the Aleutians.
On June 3, 1942, the Japanese began their attack at Dutch Harbor, the home of the Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears Military Base. Not finding what they wanted there, they moved on to the island of Kiska, invading it on June 6, 1942. The only occupants of the island at the time were a weather team of 10 men. Their job was top secret, since weather plays such a crucial role in war, often determining when an attack on the enemy would take place.
On June 7th, they invaded the island of Attu, rounding up the residents, all 44 of them, and forcing them all into the schoolhouse. Not allowed to speak to each other, they were given a sheet of rules of occupation. After being held all day with nothing to eat, the Attuans were allowed to return to their now looted and shot up homes. Attuans were held prisoners in their homes until September, when they were sent to labor camps in Japan.
It took 15 months for the United States military to regain the islands of Kiska and Attu.
Ghosts in the Fog is a nice, comprehensive accounting of the Aleutian invasion. Seiple has clearly researched her topic thoroughly and utilizes it well. Included in the book are lots of photos and a map to help the reader situate where things happened, important since not many people know about this event of World War II.
I found the book informative, but I also found myself looking up things that were not made clear enough in the book. Each chapter starts of focused on an individual who was there, giving it a more personal touch. All their experiences are then pulled together in the final chapter, leaving no loose ends. Most salient in Seiple’s descriptions, and not very different from each other in their levels of harshness, are the somewhat graphically presented cruelty of the Japanese soldiers and the very graphic depiction of Aleutian weather. And much of this story is about surviving these two enemies.
On the whole, I found this to be a compelling book, in part because of the personal stories, and would definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in non-fiction works about the Second World War.
This book is recommended for readers age 14 and up.
This book is an ARC that was sent to me by the publisher.
The National Park Service has a website dedicated to the
Aleutian Islands in World War II To read an except from Ghosts in the Fog, vi
I have to be honest, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book, since it's all science fiction and X-fileish....however I loved it!
Colt McAlister was having the summer of his life. He spent his days surfing and his nights playing guitar on the beach with friends. He even met a girl and got his first car. But everything changes when his parents are killed in a freak accident. He's forced to leave his old life behind and move to Arizona with his grandfather. To read more of my review, click here.
Lots of fun publishing news out the last couple days, so I thought I’d compile it for you:
Thomas Nelson has launched its science-fiction fantasy Chaos series for young adults with Invasion by Jon S. Lewis. Here’s the jacket cover:
When sixteen-year-old Colt McAllister’s parents are killed in a car crash, he learns it was no accident — his mother, a journalist, was writing an expose of the powerful biotech corporation Trident Industries. Now, Colt has been targeted, and he and his friends Oz and Danielle find themselves battling the same sinister forces that took his parents’ lives. A gateway between worlds has been opened, and Earth is in mortal danger.
Thomas Nelson says Invasion has “crackling plot twists, cliffhanger chapter endings, cyber attacks, alien invaders, and an undercurrent of teen romance.” As a sci-fi fan and writer, sounds good to me!
New York Times best-selling author Emma Walton Hamilton has launches the children’s writers’ salon Children’s Book Hub, a membership-based forum to provide information, resources and support for aspiring and established children’s book authors. There is a fee, $19.95, and members will reportedly have access to regular teleseminars with authors, editors, agents and other members of the children’s book industry. The site also will offer monthly newsletters, a members’ forum and lists of publishers that accept unsolicited manuscripts, among others. The industry has lots of other places to get info and support, but another can’t hurt.
And in September, I wrote about the MeeGenius contest. They’ve now picked their winners:
Grand Prize: Pajama Girl by Sarah Perry and Ingvard the Terrible
1st Runner Up: The Cat Just Sat in the Chair by D.T. Walsh
2nd Runner Up: Floppity Phillip Flaut, words by Gary Guthrie, illustrations by Sunyoung Kim, characters by Taylor Lewis Guthrie
3rd Runner Up: Who Is the Most Beautiful Bird in the Barnyard? by Sharon Mann
and 4th Runner Up: The Little Green Bubbles by Kevin Malone, illustrated by Lee Hadziyianis.
Congratulations!
Got any news to share?
Write On!
0 Comments on Fun writing news as of 1/1/1900
This seems like a fun read. The whole series is intriguing. Your bookblog.ning friend
Alex, I'm so glad you wrote this! I got the other title from my own father's diary (he was a kid during the war), and used it in EDDIE'S WAR without reading it myself. Now I have a very good idea of what it was like!
Oooh, sounds cool! I really like stories with a survivalist tone and that's often what I write, so I should pick this up!
Fun and cool read. Thanks again for a great review Alex.
http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
DM and Lindsay, This is real a fun book in an old fashioned way, so be sure to go to Project Gutenberg and download a copy.
Carol, it was a funny coincidence that I had read Eddie's War and DD at Dunkirk so close to each other. I loved Eddie's War and was fascinated by your dad's diary.