Book Review - Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Alan Gratz

 Oh look, here is another book that you need to add to your to-read list!

Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
By Alan Gratz

December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley pretty much live in paradise. Their dads are Navy officers stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the boys have a front-row view of the huge battleships and the sparkling water. But on December 7th, 1941, everything explodes. Over the course of the day, as the boys fight to make their way home, it's clear that everything has changed.

Stanley's mother is Japanese American and he is suddenly facing a terrible prejudice that he's never known before - and Frank, who's white, cannot begin to understand. Can their friendship survive this watershed moment?

Heroes is a story of two thirteen-year-old boys, whose fathers have been deployed at Pearl Harbour. The boys are obsessed with comic book heroes and they spend much of their time making up their own stories. Frank is a nervous child who can imagine a thousand and one things for reasons that something might go wrong. He is a big old ball of anxiety that no one seems to understand, but he is really good at coming up with stories. Stanley is the complete opposite. He is a very confident boy who also happens to be exceptionally good at drawing.

This book took me totally by surprised. I was planning (and still am) of giving it as a gift for my nephew who is 11, but I wanted to make sure it was a suitable book first. Honestly, I spent a lot of the time reading through tears. The boys’ experience of the attack on Pearl Harbour is horrendous, but they somehow manage to face each challenge together, while trying to keep a hold on reality by talking about what their comic book heroes would do if they were there. They are no longer pretending to be superheroes; they are the superheroes now.

This book was a really great read, and it comes with my five star approval. I know my nephew is going to love every minute of it. 

I really did enjoy every minute of this novel. You can grab your copy over on Amazon I bought the paperback copy, and yes, I was careful I didn't break the spine, so my nephew will never know I have read it!

Alan Gratz

I'm the author of a number of books for young readers, including Refugee, Allies, Grenade, Projekt 1065, Prisoner B-3087, and Ban This Book. I live in the mountains of western North Carolina with my family, where I enjoy reading, playing games, and eating pizza. Follow me on Twitter: @alangratz