Air Raid--Pearl Harbor!: The Story of December 7, 1941

by Theodore Taylor

On December 7, 1941, Americans were stunned to learn that Japanese forces had launched an attack on Pearl Harbor. In this engrossing and extensively researched account, Theodore Taylor examines both sides of the battle, taking a close look at the events leading up to it and providing compelling insight into the motives and operations of the brave men and women swept up in the fight.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, School, World War II, Middle Grade, Childrens, Historical

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Nathan Bussone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very interesting. I always knew about pearl harbor but I never knew about the actual details that took place that day. I also didn't know about the rebuttal. It was interesting to learn a little bit about the hiroshima bombing and a little bit about the war.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting account of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and I learned a lot.

[Keetae Byunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Air Raid" by Theodore Taylor is about a boy living in the time period of Pearl Harbor and World War II. The story is a bout a boy living in Hawaii during WWII, a couple of months before the attack in Pearl Harbor. This book is the story of his experience before and after Pearl Harbor. This story is also about his community and what they had to go through because there were Japanese people in Hawaii and during that time Japan was at war with America. This event impacted Japanese Americans a lot because it was Japan who bombed Pearl Harbor. My favorite part of the story was after the incident when the main character tries to rebuild what was damaged. I liked this part of the story because I could relate it to myself because the wound on my leg takes a long time to heal, like America. Pearl Harbor is a symbol for my wound. The author wrote this book for two specific reasons. First, the author may have had a relative who experienced this event because he tells the story with good details. When I read the book I felt like I was the boy in the story. I could feel everything he felt. Second, to inform others of the hardships and relationships during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

From this book I learned that just because there is a war where you live, you shouldn't be concerned with just your life. If you are okay and not hurt during a traumatic event like Pearl harbor, you should help others. I would recommend this book to people who want to learn more about Pearl Harbor, people who like WWI stories, and people who care about others. These are the reasons why you should read this book.

[Liam Franco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Air Raid Pearl Harbor by Theodore Taylor is an amazing non-fiction book with a lot of details and action. This book is about the attacks on Pearl Harbor and how the Japanese bombed different naval bases. What made this book special is that you can visualize the terror and violence that the people on the ships went through. I think that this book is effective in showing how hard and how long U.S military personal fought for us. The book gives a minute-to-minute account of the attack on Pearl Harbor. This book is rich in military jargon that will expand anyone’s vocabulary. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action packed books and anyone who likes to learn about history.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a class I teach and really enjoyed it. Even though it was published some time ago, that didn't matter because it was about an incident from WWII. It was interesting to learn how many mistakes were made by so many people that lead to this attack being so successful for the Japanese. I kept thinking that many major events are often the result of repeated mistakes made by one person after another. It's a very important historical event for people to understand why the United States entered WWII.

[Nimisha Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It contains a lot of interesting information and presents World War II well. As I mentioned before, it is informative, but it is not like a history textbook, in which you are bombarded with facts. Truly said, this book is one of kind. You don't find many books that are informative, without being boring. This book is a wonderful book and I definitely recommend you all to read it.

[Lois Timms-Ferrara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, nonfiction. Not a story about a boy at all! It’s about the days leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It details the strategies of the various leaders on the Japanese side. It also details the ‘missed’ communications that were hinting to the US top brass that the attack was imminent. Quick read, in the back there’s a list of the characters—very helpful as the names/ranks can be confusing.

[Shanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A play-by-play account of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. What I learned is that a whole lot of people made a whole lot of mistakes (some bigger than others)- so many missed opportunities to either prevent or at least minimize the impact of the attack. The communication among the U.S. military and political leaders was sadly, ridiculously deficient.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this to my 4th & 7th graders. It was extremely interesting. I learned many new things I hadn’t known known before. I recommend this to those who want to learn more about the events preceding the attack and the attack itself on pearl harbor.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a decent telling of the pearl harbor history, but not perfect. Names got a bit confusing and the writing was not always perfect. The final chapter was very interesting, not pulling any punches. Something that I have rarely seen in history books.

3.5 Stars

[Tara]

I just finished reading this to BB. We learned a lot of history and I was surprised by the poor communication of warnings that could have helped the people at Pearl Harbor prepare for the attack. It was interesting. BB told me he learned "not to keep secrets", he said to give this book 5 stars.

[Alex Talmadge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book gets off to a slow start but once it hits just past the midway mark in the book, is when it gets good. It was pretty neat to hear about some of the unheard heroes and their heroic actions on the day of Pearl Harbor.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a super-easy read, but it also provides a lot of details concerning principal players of the attack on Pearl Harbor. A person could very easily read this in one day.

[Sarah Sarang · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this book for Social Studies and it wasn’t exactly like a novel and more like a documentary so I didn’t enjoy reading it but at least I learned some new things about World War 2

[LecturerRich · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very detailed filled account of the lead up to and the raid on Pearl Harbor

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative. I look forward to sharing this title with my WW2 readers

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting nonfiction book about the events leading up to Pearl Harbor as well as the attack itself.

[Sarah Bowling · Rating 1 out of 5]

This reads like a textbook. I'm an adult and I could barely get through it. If we want kids to love history, we have to do better.

CC: war, extensive casualties, bombs

[Anna Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was awesome! I love anything WWII history related and this was great! I loved the details and how we got to see both sides.

[Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Air Raid, by Theodore Taylor was a very good read. I learned a lot from this book. It was a quick read and there was always something going on. If you are interested in WWII then this is a great boom for you.

[Anthony Stull · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about the air raid on Pearl Harbor. The planning began when a Japanese ship which had arrived in Honolulu harbor at 8:30 a.m. A Japanesee man named named Takeo Yoshikawa was sort of like a secret spy in the Imperial army. He spoke good English. He usually flew over Pearl Harbor sightseeing and collecting information as a tourist then relaying it to japan. Once he used a small camera and took pictures of the harbor’s naval base. When Takeo first flew iover, Americans were curious but after a while they grew accustomed to him flying over so they let it continue. In Washington D.C, there was a special machine called “The Purple machine.” That was a decoder that translated messages to and then from Japan. Messages rthat Purple translated could not be kept because they thought that if Japan found out they would change the code. A day before the attack there were battleships,light cruisers, and destroyers. At the dock, there are light cruisers and destroyers. The next day, the Purple machine decoded a message that said, attack at 1. But since yhere was a time difference of five and a half hours between Japan and the United States. The Japanese were at Pearl Harbor with mini submarines, Japanese bombers, and large submarines. The Japanese are ready to attack...

[Aaron Helander · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Yesterday, December 7, a date which will live in infamy." In case you do not know this is a quote said be President Roosevelt after the attack on Pearl Harbor. "Air Raid - Pearl Harbor" does a great job on describing and explaining this attack that plunged the U.S. into World War Two. It Describes the events leading up to the bombing and evaluates the decisons made by the key figures. It also explains some untold stories about it. The book does a very good job of depicting this famous day. If you want to learn more information about Pearl Harbor this booke will do it in an interesting manner. December 7 is truely a day that will live in infamy.
Overall I thought this book was a pretty good read. It provided information on this subject in an informative yet interesting way. Having read and seen many things about the bombing of Pearl Harbor I thought i knew everything about it but this book taught me several more things I had not known. It was able to keep me hooked throughout the whole novel. It is an excellent read that i would recommend to anybody wanting to learn or just brush up on their knowledge of Pearl Harbor.

[Saumyaa K · Rating 3 out of 5]

208 pages
Air Raid! Pearl Harbor
by Theodore Taylor

This book gives an account about the pearl harbor and the attack from the viewpoint of both and all the mistakes thy made. Also it has all the events that led to the attack. This book has political viewpoints and military viewpoints of the people. Its really cool. It includes the stories of people who gave their lives. Alo, it says what happens after the attack and how the world reacted to it.

This book was really good because I got to see the attack in the viewpoint of the japanese and the americans. It was really tragic that a lot of people died during the attack. I like history a lot so I loved this book. This book had decisions made by president Roosevelt and It is interesting to see how a president makes decisions and what happens. It also has all the decisions made by the Japanese side. This story was really cool and good and I liked it a lot.

[Tanner.m · Rating 3 out of 5]

Air Raid: Pearl Harbor
Non-fiction

208 pages
Air raid pearl harbor is about the events of pearl harbor and the view point from both sides of the argument. This book also talked about the secreat machienes the American milatary used to intercept japanise messeges and communications. On thing that I learned from this book is that after the warfare there were still men standing and some ships ready to retaliate against the japs and that on that day some of the generals and even the president knew that the air raid was going to happen yet they didn't have time to warn pearl harbor. A.other thing I learned wazthat the japanise actually had a ton if me ready to die by suicide bombing ships and cargo supplies on pearl harbor.

I would reccomend this boom because it can be slow at some times but it actually was very interesting and informative all over.

[Suraj Rama · Rating 3 out of 5]

The genre of this book is Non-Fiction. I gave this book a 3 out of 5 star rating. History is not my favorite subject in schools. But there was an event in history that really grasped my attention. The bombing of Pearl Harbor. This event was huge. Not only did it get everyone's attention, it also brought America into World War II. In this book, it told so much specific detail about this particular event. For example, in the beginning of the book, Theodore Taylor talked about all the different types of emotion appeals everyone was having, when the soldiers returned to Hawaii. He talked about all the types of events that they would do. He also uses a great amount of Pathos to tell his readers that Pearl Harbor was a terrible tragedy. I would recommend this book to a friend, if they are interested in history.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book was kinda borring. Though this book is non fiction i didn't like it. It wasn't like the other peral harbor book i read. This book was like the worst book that was boring. This doesn't have any talking between character and this is like all facts. There is nothing like people were running like this book should add a little more action like how people were in their planes and that the people were thinking this is the chance to bomb those Dam Americans(well i don't really want that to happen) but, this is boring. I wouldn't recomend it to regular readers but i would recomend it to people that are doing Projects on Pearl Harbor.

[Kohei · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was similar to the other book I read, "Hiroshima" by John Hersey. Both books take place during World War Two. This book was at the beginning stage of WWII, and the other book took place at the ending phase of WWII. This story starts off similar to the way "Hiroshima" did- It was close to the day infamy, the American operations of the navy was being explained by the author. In a way, I guess this book is non-fiction because the author talks about the actual things the american fleet did, and the different operations the americans did, and the day pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. The book tends to be boring at several parts.

[Yana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in our advisory shelf and as soon as i began reading it i was hooked. Based on the title,you already know what it's about.This book is somewhat a historical document of the events that took place leading to the U.S' involvment in WWII. Reading this book, you get every detail of the event of Pearl Harbor, as if you were really there, well based on the way it is written.I found this book to be fasinating, because it is my favorite genre and i really recommend this book to people in the 11th grade, because we will be learning about it very soon this year in our history classes.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7,1941. I think that the writing in this book was very descriptive. I think that the author explained so much that he made it boring to read. Even though I think it got boring I think the author did a good job getting information. This book helped me learn about what happened that day. I think that this was not a very good book but it can help you learn about Pearl Harbor. I think that all people who like war and want to learn about Pearl Harbor will like this book.

Word Count: 102

[Travis E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave the book a 5 star rating, because I love books on navy and the world wars that have happened. It just caught my attention and I was very interested on how this book put the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The parts I DID NOT like was when the author kept going on about how restless the "Japs" were when they had to keep post-poning the attack. Pearl Harbor kept me on the edge of my seat! I felt happy that the japenese took some heavy casulties, but come on! Suicide Bombers! Even the dumbest americans wouldn't have suicide bombers! I think the Japenese are pretty darn Dumb!