Pearl Harbor: Day of Infamy

by Stephanie Fitzgerald

Provides detailed information on the events leading up to and taking place on December 7, 1941, the day that thousands of Americans were killed by the Empire of Japan in Hawaii's Pearl Harbor Naval Base, ultimately resulting in the United States joining World War II. Includes source notes and timeline.

96 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good but could be more detailed

[Chasen Meirovits · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pearl Harbor: A Day of Infamy by Stephanie Fitzgerald is an informational text about the tragic attack of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese during World War II. This was the event that caused the United States to enter the war. The attack happened on December 7, 1941 and was one of the darkest days in US history. More than 2,000 Americans were killed and when the attack happened around 7:55, the American troops were not prepared for what was coming. Most of the troops were still in bed or eating breakfast when the attack happened. When the first bomb fell, many assumed that the pilots were just taking target practice as they were doing throughout the week. The Japanese were intent on destroying every plane, ship, building and person at the base. Sailors were being thrown from their bunks into the water and were trapped inside the ships that were on fire and began to sink as the bombs hit the ships. In minutes all of the ships on Battleship Row had been hit with bombs and torpedoes. At the same time , Japanese bombers were attacking the airfields throughout the island. The entire attack lasted around 2 hours and in total, 21 ships were sunk/damaged, 188 aircrafts were destroyed, and 159 damaged. The US had to spend lots of time rebuilding and repairing its fleet.
The artistic style was obviously realism based on the actual photographs of the attacks of Pearl Harbor that are included in the book. Since the book was informational and based on a real event, there were no special text and image support for one another and there was not much color used. All of the images were black and white and these colors fit the book according to the sadness and depression that this attack caused. There were no full bleed images, but on some pages an image covered the entire page. Lots of white space appeared on each page and it seemed as if the text was most focused on with this book as opposed to the images since this is based on facts. The book was basically written as a small chapter book. What was interesting about this book is that it included a timeline of all the important events throughout WWII, a glossary of some important words or terms used throughout the book, an index to refer back to specific events or people, websites where the information was gathered, and lastly an "about the author" page. This was definitely an educational and informational book that I would definitely recommend to anybody interested in WWII or history in general. I would recommend this book for 12-15 year olds (4th-5th graders). I really enjoyed learning more information on Pearl Harbor!

[Rose]

940.54 Fit