This month's book reviews

A serious book about Pearl Harbor
written for kids

"Air Raid - Pearl Harbor" is a 191-page paperback with a list price of $6.00 that treats the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The book can be found under the intermediate age range in the children's books section of bookstores. It presents a serious treatment of the events that led up to the bombing attack and a factual description of what went on during and after the attack. The author, Theodore Taylor, was also involved in the production of the movie, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" the popular movie about the December 7th attack.

From the description above, you can probably determine that "Air Raid - Pearl Harbor" is not your usual children's book. It would appeal to that child who is interested in history, especially in those events related to warfare or the military. Its reading requires a high level of reading ability. Among other things, it contains a large number of Japanese leaders' names, many of which are especially difficult to pronounce. But for that child who has the interest and the ability, the book provides a succinct and vividly written account of the Pearl Harbor attack. A parent also would find the book interesting and useful in providing a relatively brief but accurate depiction of this historical event. The book provides some maps but other than the one on the cover does not have illustrations or photographs.

• Buy this book from

A prize-winning kid's book that's so well written you may want to read it yourself

"When Zachary Beaver Came to Town" is the second book by Kimberly Willis Holt whose first publication was "My Louisiana Sky," which was awarded a number of awards for best fiction for children and young adults. Her second book is a National Book Award winner.

What makes the book so extraordinary is that Ms. Holt takes a cast of colorful small town characters and brings them to life in a plot that is so true to life because of its seemingly unlikely juxtaposition of events. The story is told through the eyes of Toby, an insecure boy of junior high school age. Toby develops empathy for the Zachary Taylor, a reclusive 15-year-old boy who has been brought to town to be exhibited as "the world's fattest boy." It appears that Zachary has been abandoned by his scam artist manager and left to fend for himself in the small Texas town of Antler. Toby strives to get to know the real Zachary and, later, to protect him from embarrassment and lead him into some kind of life beyond exploitation as a sideshow freak.

The Zachary Taylor part of the plot is interwoven with the story of a housewife who leaves her son and husband to pursue her ambition to be a country music star. There is a subtly interwoven plot about a husband and father who left the large city and a high-pressure career to live a quiet life in a small town. There is a story of the hopeless crush of a young adolescent for a slightly older girl, who in turn, is involved in a romance with an early-maturing classmate, who is trying to cope with his own identify problems because of his family's ethnic background. The dissonance in society's view of the Viet Nam war is brought in through making part of the plot the combat service of the small town's favorite son

This is another one of those children's literature award winners that is probably best experienced by a young person who can discuss it with an adult who has also read and appreciated the book.

• Buy this book from

Is your son or daughter one of those kids who never saw an animal they didn't like?

"Raccoons on the Roof" is one title in a series of books authored in England that deal with pre-teens and their infatuation with animals of all different kinds. This particular book features a young English girl who visits Florida with her grandparents. Her grandmother was the closest friend of an English war bride from World War II and had waited decades to visit her friend in the United States. The American friends had lived in a rather remote part of Florida and, with their children and grandchildren, had tried to preserve the natural beauty and animal habitats of their home area. They were now dealing with the encroachment of non-nature lovers who were developing home sites and driving out the animal life.

Although numerous animals indigenous to Florida are featured in the book, the main focus is on a family of raccoons, who especially fascinated Mandy, the granddaughter of the English friend of the war bride. Most of us here in Missouri know how mischievous and destructive raccoons can be around a bird feeder or the garbage cans. So we can be somewhat sympathetic to the new neighbors who haven't learned to live along side of wild animals and appreciate the animals' rights to remain on the land.

The publisher reports a fourth grade level of reading difficulty for the paperback. There is enough plot and action to appeal to girls and boys who are above that grade level. Scholastic publishes the books in the U.S. They cost less than a movie admission ticket and can be found in the intermediate section of most bookstores.

• Buy this book from

Would you be happy if your kids read shortened and rewritten versions of the "classics"?

Many of the classic titles in English and American literature have been published in rewritten and shortened versions repeatedly over the years. Some of us can remember reading "Classic Comics" versions. The really elderly among us can remember the "Big Little Books" of the 1930's and 40's, with a full-page picture for each page of text. The most recent redone classics have been issued as the "Bullseye Step into Classics" series, published as inexpensive paperbacks by Random House.

For the children's review, Bullseye's "Robin Hood" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" were chosen as examples. The publisher reports a primary grade level of readability (2.4 grade equivalent) on the back cover for both paperbacks. This certainly understates their reading difficulty, as publishers of children's books are prone to do, but both books would not overtax the reading skills of middle graders with some reading problems.

Kids should be exposed to the characters and plots of these classic stories as early as possible. A reading of a simplified version is just as likely to predispose a young reader to read the original as it would be a cause for him or her to coast through life on a reading of a 'dumb downed" version. Many of us can remember reading a revised classic as a third or fourth grader and, then, eagerly reading the "real" volume in seventh or eighth grade. Sharing one of these paperbacks with a child can revive for a parent his or her memory of an early reading of a favorite classic like "Little Women, "Black Beauty," or ""The Three Musketeers."

• Buy "Tom Sawyer" from