What do you think?
Rate this book
Guts & Glory #3
Guts & Glory: World War II
Discover legendary commanders, tremendous fights, elite soldiers, and courageous individuals whose deeds truly made the difference in this jaw-dropping guide to the biggest war the world has ever seen.
From massive aerial battles that clouded the skies with planes to deathly secret operations deep behind enemy lines, the events of World War II are some of the most awe-inspiring of all time.
Packed with trivia, epic battles, and amazing illustrations, World War II comes alive for kids like no textbook can in this account from Ben Thompson that's perfect for history buffs and reluctant readers.
From massive aerial battles that clouded the skies with planes to deathly secret operations deep behind enemy lines, the events of World War II are some of the most awe-inspiring of all time.
Packed with trivia, epic battles, and amazing illustrations, World War II comes alive for kids like no textbook can in this account from Ben Thompson that's perfect for history buffs and reluctant readers.
400 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2016
126 people are currently reading
258 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
December 10, 2021
Kicking butts, EXPLODING thing anywhere from Blikzering to Peral harbor TO D-Day to the atomic bomb. This bloody battle will take you strait into the book. Action from both Allies side to the Axis side along with important battles ever won. This has been the best book ever besides other books but not like history is going to rewrite itself from the start. I like destruction and history. BUT i have NEVER read this much battles (especially the part where their about to explode the ship) in many chapters. Ms.Lacker got to get this book so that way other people can read it we need this book in Ms. Lacker's class room!!!!!!
February 8, 2019
this is a review on the story "Their Finest Hour". the central idea in the story (of many) is to inform you about the battle of Britain
February 6, 2024
Reads like someone is just chatting with you. Loved it!
May 4, 2022
forced myself to read this because I bought it💋
February 24, 2023
Guts and Glory WW2 was a really good book. What I really liked about it was it did not just focus on the USA, Great Britain, and Russia. It had stories from Chinese soldiers and others. It also did not just focus on the army and was not only focused in Europe. These are some of the things I liked about the book.
The book was great, but there were some things I didn’t like. I didn’t like how they did not have a lot of naval battle stories, there were some but I wish there was more. I also did not like how the stories moved because you would hit the climax and then how they lived out the rest of their days nothing else on how the fight ended. Those are really my only complaints about the book; everything else was good.
Guts and Glory WW2 was a well put together book. Overall I would rate it five stars. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes history or anybody who just wants a good book to read. Guts and Glory WW2 is a great book and I encourage people to read it.
The book was great, but there were some things I didn’t like. I didn’t like how they did not have a lot of naval battle stories, there were some but I wish there was more. I also did not like how the stories moved because you would hit the climax and then how they lived out the rest of their days nothing else on how the fight ended. Those are really my only complaints about the book; everything else was good.
Guts and Glory WW2 was a well put together book. Overall I would rate it five stars. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes history or anybody who just wants a good book to read. Guts and Glory WW2 is a great book and I encourage people to read it.
November 9, 2017
I enjoyed Guts and Glory WWII by Ben Thompson because it was full of awesome stories about different people who played big parts in the war. My favorite parts of the book were the stories of Paddy Mayne and Voytek the smoking artillery carrying bear. The only reason I disliked this book is because I wish that there were more stories. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in WWII history because it has stories you would never find in other books.
April 12, 2023
I read this one in order to know how good it would be to recommend to my middle schoolers or how good it would be to have students use a portion of for research about a specific part of World War II.
I can definitely say that this makes for thrilling reading and is an excellent compendium of some of the greatest heroic stories of World War II (and not just by American men either). Many of these I did already know, but many I did not, and they had me going on Wikipedia to learn more because of how fascinating they are. I began to have an idea a number of years ago that WWII provides a seemingly exhaustless amount of material for incredible stories, and this book certainly reaffirmed that idea.
All that said, this book wasn't written with much nuance. It certainly doesn't glorify war without describing it's most awful parts, but it could come across as a sort of encomium for WWII heroes, if you didn't read it carefully. Some may also be turned off by its informal, kind of 6th grader terminology. That didn't bother me once I got used to it because I spend my days around middle schoolers and know how effective this book could be for them.
As far as I could tell, it was well-researched, with the one caveat that it does tell some stories as if they were at least likely true but when I looked them up, seemed to be generally considered as legend by many historians. So read with a grain of salt and look up anything you are at all suspicious of. But that's a sign of a good book if it gets you looking up more on the subject.
Will definitely use this with my middle schoolers going forward.
I can definitely say that this makes for thrilling reading and is an excellent compendium of some of the greatest heroic stories of World War II (and not just by American men either). Many of these I did already know, but many I did not, and they had me going on Wikipedia to learn more because of how fascinating they are. I began to have an idea a number of years ago that WWII provides a seemingly exhaustless amount of material for incredible stories, and this book certainly reaffirmed that idea.
All that said, this book wasn't written with much nuance. It certainly doesn't glorify war without describing it's most awful parts, but it could come across as a sort of encomium for WWII heroes, if you didn't read it carefully. Some may also be turned off by its informal, kind of 6th grader terminology. That didn't bother me once I got used to it because I spend my days around middle schoolers and know how effective this book could be for them.
As far as I could tell, it was well-researched, with the one caveat that it does tell some stories as if they were at least likely true but when I looked them up, seemed to be generally considered as legend by many historians. So read with a grain of salt and look up anything you are at all suspicious of. But that's a sign of a good book if it gets you looking up more on the subject.
Will definitely use this with my middle schoolers going forward.
June 23, 2019
Im a fan of Mr. Thompsons work and think all of his books should be read by A. History Geeks who need an infusion of awesome to balance out the heavy books they are reading. B. Younger readers who need great examples of badass history to show how the events of the past are really exciting! Mr. Thompson delivers consistently with these goals but in this book I noticed an innacuracy or two that really should not javr gotten past him. He refrenced Beijing as the capital of China during his chapter on the Battle od Shanghai, but for any modern reader of WWII history will know the capital was in Nanjing(Nanking). His chapter on Stalingrad seems like he just watched the film "Enemy at the Gates" and gave up. I know this is nitpicking, but I love his other work and its frustrating to see these mistakes or coner cutting in a piece of work that I enjoy. Perhaps he rushed through the editing process faster than he should. Regardless, there is a lot to love in this book and it is certainly worth your time as a quick read.
November 17, 2017
This book is really good. It is about all kinds of different wars that people might not know about during WW2. Since there were so many different stories, there were so many different characters. The main character who was always mentioned was Adolf Hitler. Him and Stalin were what you might call frenemies, they were both dictatorships but they sometimes threatened each other. The things both of them did together was disgusting.
I rated this book 3 stars because it is nonfiction but overall I would say it is one of the better books. You learn a lot from this book and if you are interested in wars you will like this book. My favorite part of the book was when they explain the Germans tactics.
Like I said before it is a good book and I would recommend the this book to war lovers. Although it takes some time to read you finish it knowing alot of knowledge on WW2. But overall I would say i would not recommend this book unless you need to read it.
I rated this book 3 stars because it is nonfiction but overall I would say it is one of the better books. You learn a lot from this book and if you are interested in wars you will like this book. My favorite part of the book was when they explain the Germans tactics.
Like I said before it is a good book and I would recommend the this book to war lovers. Although it takes some time to read you finish it knowing alot of knowledge on WW2. But overall I would say i would not recommend this book unless you need to read it.
January 12, 2019
WOW. This book was sensational. All about WWII, this book has true stories ranging from the Great Patriotic War (Eastern Front) to the War in the Pacific.
I feel that during WWII, we too often focus on the atrocities committed by Hirohito and Tojo, Hitler, and Mussolini too much. There were indeed many violations of basic human rights during the war, showing just how low the human race can plummet in morality, but there were also a lot of lesser known, but important, acts, too. Acts of heroism. Acts of bravery. Acts of sacrifice. This book is a compilation of some of these during important battles in the war, such as those of Britain, Stalingrad, Iwo Jima, Berlin, and more.
Read it.
I feel that during WWII, we too often focus on the atrocities committed by Hirohito and Tojo, Hitler, and Mussolini too much. There were indeed many violations of basic human rights during the war, showing just how low the human race can plummet in morality, but there were also a lot of lesser known, but important, acts, too. Acts of heroism. Acts of bravery. Acts of sacrifice. This book is a compilation of some of these during important battles in the war, such as those of Britain, Stalingrad, Iwo Jima, Berlin, and more.
Read it.
May 24, 2018
From my 11 year old: " Guts and Glory is a FANTASTIC book! It has so much information! I am homeschooled and we started to learn about WWII. I think most people think about the Holocaust when they think about WWII, and they should! But this book gives information on all the small battles and victories that sometimes go unnoticed. I learned a LOT from this book and I highly recommend it if you are interested in WWII."
December 11, 2018
I loved all the character's but one of my favorites was the White Mouse because I love being reading about secret missions and sabotage!
I was surprised when I read about the poles having a bear I thought it was cute, nice, and funny!
I would not change the ending Because I liked that it ended when the war really ended but I would add a part in the book that talks about Italy no longer being allies with Hitler but I liked it anyway!
I was surprised when I read about the poles having a bear I thought it was cute, nice, and funny!
I would not change the ending Because I liked that it ended when the war really ended but I would add a part in the book that talks about Italy no longer being allies with Hitler but I liked it anyway!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2024
It's good, fun reading, etc., but it feels like there is lot of whitewashing of the atrocities of the war. I get that it's for younger readers ()we got it for my daughter, who became interested in WWII history), but until you're pretty far through the book, you might not be clear that the Nazis are the bad guys. Before that, Nazis just come off as badass warriors with cool machines. Oh, it's clear by the end, but...that's kinda a big point.
December 17, 2018
This book is awesome. I brought it to read with Ben (6 yrs) but enjoyed it myself. Full of extraordinary stories from World War II many of which I'd never heard before. Enjoy Voytek, the Solider Bear, riding in jeeps with the rest of his company or the USS Thompson a small destroyer that charged the whole Japanese fleet single handed.
November 18, 2022
This book is about specific people and tells stories from the war. Any elementary level boy would go crazy over this book because it talks about all the action of the war such as the pilots and the planes. I think that this book would be more interesting for students to read because they are true educational stories!
October 5, 2020
I read this wonderful little book with my son. He’s really into WWII at the moment. The writing is both engaging and humorous, and we really enjoyed it. We will be reading the other books in the series soon!
June 21, 2022
Awesome book! I recommend it to everybody, especially older kids interested in history. His writing style is relatable and engaging. All his sources are cited in the back (which makes me feel a lot better) and you walk away excited to learn more.
April 18, 2018
great read about the lesser known (but awesome) heroes of WWII.
August 7, 2018
Loved it.
Read
December 9, 2019This book was a very good book and I recommend it for everyone to read.
June 23, 2020
Very informative and offers a new perspective on teaching and learning history.
March 22, 2021
its awesome so many facts and informatational chapters it keeps you on the edge of yourseat
September 18, 2021
I read this at my son's request. It had a ton of interesting facts.
April 7, 2022
Great history book for young readers. My 8 year old and I loved it.
May 22, 2022
Got boring at points
June 22, 2022
Short overview of World War II with short action stories. Very interesting!
October 31, 2022
Many stories of heroism and courage I had not heard before! Good read for kids AND adults.
March 14, 2023
Awesome book. Had stats about almost all the machinery.
May 8, 2023
Was audiobook for car rides with my son. He was riveted and keep my interest. Was, I thought, great board brush history. Aptly deals with a kid version of horrific events.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews