When Angels Intervene to Save the Children

by Hartt Wixom, Judene Wixom

"This is a revolution! This school is being taken hostage! Don't push any alarms, answer any phones, or call for help. I have guns and this is a bomb. You and I are only one-half inch from death." This is the true story of a traumatic hostage takeover that threatened the lives of over 150 students and teachers from Cokeville, Wyoming. As parents of one of the student hostages, Hartt and Judene Wixom recapture the terror and confusion that struck this small, tight-knit community on May 16, 1986. The Wixoms describe in detail the chain of events that led up to David Young's invasion, balancing the horrific scenes of terror with stories of hope and faith. The miraculous outcome of the nightmare proved to those involved that there are times when angels intervene to save the children. Basis for the movie To Save the Children, this terrifying yet tender story shows the strength of the human spirit and the reality of heavenly miracles.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Lds, Inspirational, Adult, True Crime

156 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

Reviews

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently saw the new movie with the same title and expected, as usual, that the book would be better than the movie. Surprisingly, this was not the case.

The book tells the amazing true story of a crazy man and his wife who brought a bomb into an elementary school in Cokeville, Wyoming in 1986. They held over 120 children and teachers hostage. The bomber attached himself to the bomb, so if he was killed the bomb would explode when he fell. After many hours he needed to use the bathroom, so he had his wife take his place attached to the bomb. While he was in the bathroom, she inadevertantly set off the bomb. It should have killed everyone in the room, but not a single hostage was killed. The wife died from the blast and her husband shot himself.

After the bombing, many of the children told their parents that they were comforted and guided to safety by angels. In later seeing family albums, they identified the angels as ancestors.

The author is the parent of a couple of the children. He does an adequate job of detailing the story, but the part that most people would be interested in reading about the angelic interventions is fairly short. He writes that there were more children with stories concerning their angelic rescuers, but for privacy reasons, they declined to have their stories told.

The book is okay, but the movie is very good. If you are not in an area where it is showing (it is an independent film) be sure to watch in on DVD or streaming when it is made available later this year. You will not be sorry.

[Lady Foxreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

God lives. I’ve noted the irony of David’s philosophy that “God equals nothing,” when this very story proves: “Nothing equals God.”

[Emily Maughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the older version of this book so I’m sure some of the grammatical errors have been fixed. Although the writing wasn’t amazing, the actual story is. What a miracle they all survived!

I’ve also seen the movie which follows the book very closely but my favorite has been hearing one of the survivors speak recently. She was in 5th grade at the time of the bombing and it was truly amazing hearing it firsthand from her.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through half of this book, I wasn't so sure about it. As the author is a journalist, it read like a journalism piece and sometimes was hard for me to connect with the story and get the emotion from it that I thought I should have. However, as it got to the point where the bomb went off and the angels aspect of the title was explained, it finally clicked for me and I could finally become invested in and connected to the story. There were a lot of interesting points raised that I didn't think about (some of the healing of members of the community and their families, even far-away family members), but all in all I was sympathetic towards the Cokeville people and felt like I wanted to be a part of their community since they had such a great bond and were able to heal and help each other so well. I was 11 going on 12 when these events happened and so I don't really remember it, but I know the area of Bear Lake well and my husband knows someone from Cokeville, so there is a small personal connection to the story. Since there was already a movie made about this (which I never saw) and apparently a new one is in the works, it'll be interesting to see how they portray the events.

[Kenley Eskina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a beautiful book and it had a great message. As a Christian, this is an amazing story to hear about. If you liked this book or you're not much of a reader but still want to hear the story, I recommend watching the film of the same name. I did find myself getting bored throughout, but it all depends on your personal reading style.

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read. I had never considered the ramifications or the aftermath of the bombing but this book mentioned the PTSD that was suffered not only by the hostages but by the whole community. It also gave a lot of information on David Young, the bomber. The appendixes also gave food information. It includes the fourteen points that helps keep the hostages alive as well as diagrams and pictures drawn by one of the children held hostage. It's an incredible story of faith, Angels and prayer. Definitely a good read but I wish more about the angel experiences were mentioned.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was curious about the incident. this felt like an extended news article, but it still fell far short of what I anticipated. i wanted more background of the criminals, but maybe there wasn't much to them. that just made it feel sadder. i also would have liked more background on individual survivors. by the end most felt like just a list of names.

[Ranette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great true story about how God intervenes to help some children when a psychopath takes control of them.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

My sister-in-law had this book sitting on her shelf and there was discussion of the movie about the incident at Thanksgiving dinner. Her uncle was one of the law enforcement officers on scene and his son was a hostage. I remember vaguely when this incident occurred. A madman took an entire elementary school hostage in a classroom with a bomb in a shopping cart. 154 hostages and 2 perpetrators in a room designed to hold 35 people. When the bomb was inadvertently detonated, the perpetrators died (one right away and one of suicide). All of the other people in the room survived; the bomb squad called it a miracle. Everyone in town credited divine intervention. The book was written by the parents of one of the hostages.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a true crime story that takes place on May 16, 1986 in Cokeville, Wyoming. David Young and his wife, Doris Young, took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. While wearing a homemade bomb Doris become aggravated and accidently made the bomb go off killing herself and injuring 79 teachers and children. David took his own life before he could be captured.
This book does not do this story justice. It is either over the top with minute to minute dialog or does not give enough information. It is not a well rounded story. I would have liked more stories from the children and teachers and less speculation.

[Anne S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is based on a true story that took place in 1986 where a man and his wife took an elementary school in Cokeville, WY hostage for money (?), an a higher purpose. I read this after I watched the movie from 2015.

Even if you don't believe in angels, you need to believe that there was a higher being watching over their lives and protecting them during this rough time.

I did enjoy this book.

[Jodi G.]

An extraordinary story that recounts real events, this is a compelling account that inspires and intrigues. The spiritual things that transpire in this "story" come back to mind time and time again! A not-too-long read that is well worth the time. I grew up as a neighbor of the Wixoms and know that Hartt was a journalist with integrity and comprehension and honesty. I know his account would be true and based on his interviews and research.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had vaguely heard about a miracle in Cokeville while growing up, but recently I spoke with a gentleman who was a teacher at the high school during this whole Iredell, and whose son was in the classroom. I became fascinated with the account, and so read this book as well as watched the movie by TC Christensen portraying this event. It really was a miracle how these children and teachers survived, and with such clear accounts of heavenly protection. Amazing.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched this movie and was interested to find out more details about what happened to the children of Cokeville. The book even had firsthand accounts and pictures of the hostages. It truly was a miracle that all survived but the perpetrators. I got a little choked up more than once while reading it.

[Angelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did an excellent job of balancing the intertwining stories of fear and faith. I especially liked the way the various religions represented in the community all respected each other and the way the book spent more than half of its time talking about fallout and healing--these kinds of experiences don't just "end," and I love how the book made that clear.

[Kristin Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great, they did an amazing job capturing the place that Cokeville was, who these people were, and why this happened to them. I loved the first hand accounts that they added and how they described the timeline of the situation. Great read if you want to know more after or before watching the movie!

[Katrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story but the book needs some help. I imagine continuity and flow was sacrificed trying to get all the details in. Perhaps the fault is mine for expecting a story when this is more of a report.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

In today's world when tragedy seems to happen everywhere, this book was a timely read. A school is held hostage. At times, the book seemed to drag, but overall the fact that this really happened kept me reading.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately not very well written and doesn't really delve into the miracles as much as I had hoped it would.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Uplifting. My kids really liked it.

[mignon pysell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Believe

Even none believers should believe after reading this. Miracles and prayer are real. No other explanation. Read for yourself and see

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative of the terrible hostage event and bombing. I look forward to reading "Witness to Miracles", which was my primary intent.

[Rebecca Cecil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very good. Horrible as school shootings can be in this movie in the most of it all is God. Very inspiring book about how God listens an helpless daily.

[Stephanie Curatolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

True story that happened in Wyoming in 1986. Takes a look into the mind of a man that took over a school.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this miraculous story. The faith and prayers said that day with divine intervention inspires me!

[rhonda granquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Cokeville Wyoming and the miracle that took place on May 16, 1986. David and Doris Young walked into the elementary school with guns,ammo, and a homemade bomb. There were 134 children rounded up and was held hostage for several hours. There indeed was a miracle that happened that day. No one died except for Doris and David Young.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring story of true events around the hostage taking of a large group of children at a school in Cokeville, WY. As others have said, I enjoyed the movie more, but books and movies serve different purposes, and both can be enlightening in their own ways. In this case, while the book was somewhat informative, I had hoped for more detail and background on some of the people involved, but depth was lacking. As another reviewer mentioned, it read more like a very long newspaper article. Nonetheless, there is enough there to draw the reader in, to make them care about the hostages, and to inspire thoughts about the divine intervention that (in my mind) undoubtedly took place.

For those who may be interested, it is relatively easy to follow up in news accounts online and in the Wyoming historical archives (also online) which include a marvelous first person account by some of the people who were involved, including the sheriff.

[Payton11 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a true story that takes place in Cokeville, Wyoming in 1986. A former town marshal and his wife take am elementary school hostage. They brought in a bomb and 13 guns and demanded $2,000,000.00 in ransom per hostage and a personal interview with President Ronald Reagan. The bomb eventually goes off and all hostages escaped as teachers shoved children through two open windows. Following the bomb going off the Man shot his wife and then killed himself. Most of the hostages suffered from burns and other injuries. There were many children who say that there were angles in the classroom that day that helped them to the windows and get out of the school. This book is kept my attention and was a very good read.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has long chapters and a lot of information. Some of the book is hard to get through while others parts (like the angels) tend to hold your attention a bit more. I do appreciate the author’s intent to separate fact from media embellishment. Plus, the book had the added factor of the authors being parents to a hostage.

I enjoyed all of the book as I have a personal interest in the story. It did make me ponder more about my thoughts on angels and how twisted some minds can get. The old TV movie, To Save the Children, may be found on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvqW5... and there is a new theatrical movie being released in the next month. Here is the trailer for The Cokeville Miracle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn20a...

[Michelle Llewellyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very fast read with only 149 pages including the appendixes containing eyewitness accounts by the victims and lots of helpful photos and drawings. A good tie-in to the independent film.
Information that didn't come across so easily in the movie is given here. For example, David and Doris Young had already been married and divorced with children from previous relationships before they met and married. Princess really was the name of David's daughter not just an endearment everyone in the movie was calling her. There's a little bit more details given by some of the kids who experienced angelic visions which was nice to read about but readers will find themselves wishing more could've been included.
Not a bad read.