This compelling and compassionate story delineates the plight of American and Filipino soldiers and medical personnel through the Bataan Death March and prison camp experiences in the Philippines. Primarily told through first-person accounts, beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor and ending with the rescue mission in January 1945, each chapter tracks the events chronologically, often returning to the same voices. Archival photos, maps, and drawings made by soldiers and inmates are scattered throughout. The fast-paced narrative does not shy away from horrors experienced under the Japanese occupation of the island. The successful rescue operation outlines the critical role of Filipino resistance/guerilla efforts and assistance of local farmers. In rich detail, Hopkinson illuminates an important, and oft-forgotten, episode in the Pacific theater of World War II. (Age 12 and older)

A thrilling account of the most daring World War II rescue mission, liberating hundreds of American prisoners of war.

Scholastic Focus is the premier home of thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and thoughtfully designed works of narrative nonfiction aimed at middle-grade and young adult readers. These books help readers learn about the world in which they live and develop their critical thinking skills so that they may become dynamic citizens who are able to analyze and understand our past, participate in essential discussions about our present, and work to grow and build our future.

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America entered World War II, and a new theater of battle opened up in the Pacific. But US troops, along with thousands of Filipino soldiers who fought alongside them, were overtaken in the Philippines by a fiercely determined Japanese navy, and many Americans and Filipino fighters were killed or captured.

These American and Filipino prisoners of war were forced to endure the most horrific conditions on the deadly trek known as the Bataan Death March. Then, the American servicemen who were held captive by the Japanese military in Cabanatuan Camp and others in the Philippines, faced beatings, starvation, and tropical diseases, and lived constantly under the threat of death.

Unable to forget their comrades’ fate and concerned that these POWs would be brutally murdered as the tides of war shifted in the Pacific, the US Army Rangers undertook one of the most daring and dangerous rescue missions of all time. Aided by the “Angels of the Underground,” the Sixth Ranger Battalion and courageous Filipino guerrilla soldiers set out on an uncertain and treacherous assignment.Often called the Great Raid, this remarkable story remains largely forgotten.

Sibert Honor author Deborah Hopkinson presents an extraordinary and unflinching look at the heroic servicemen and women who courageously weathered the worst of circumstances and conditions in service to their country, as well as those who answered the call to save their fellow soldiers.