The Attack on Pearl Harbor: An Interactive History Adventure

by Allison Lassieur, David Aiken (Consultant)

Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what side you’re on and what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to survival or to death. In the You Choose Books set, only YOU can CHOOSE which path you take through history. What will it be? Get ready for an adventure.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Childrens, American History, War, Adventure, World War II

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

A professional freelance author who began her career in publishing as an avid D&D player, Lassieur worked for thirteen years in the publishing industry as an editor for magazines such as Disney Adventures and Highlights for Children.

She's edited game products for TSR, West End Games, and Sierra Online. In addition, she has more than two dozen nonfiction children's books to her credit and has contributed to such magazines as National Geographic World and Scholastic News.

Lassieur lives and works in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Carolyn S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm currently reading the book "Attack on Pearl Harbor" by Allison Lassieur. This is a really good book because it interacts a lot with the reader. You can pick from 3 story paths, 51 choices, and 19 endings. But what's amazing is that all of it is absolutely true and actually happened. I love learning while reading so the match is perfect. It's also a fast read so if your short on time, this is defiantly for you. This book includes supporting evidence, backup info, and little snip-bits about things that are happening at the same period of time. And even if you don't understand the entire story...in the back of the book the author gives you a overall summary of the book. I think the point of view the author writes it in is fascinating because she tells you the exact feeling in you at the moment, and it's something that I don't really notice/realize in most situations. Altogether, I would rate this book 5 STARS and I hope you can read it sometime soon.

[Mrs. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for pulling the reader into this factual true historical book. I like the ability to see history from three different points of view. (Navy sailor, Navy nurse, Japanese pilot) The ability to choose your path of learning puts the reader in control. This books attacks a wide range of my students but many boys who are not readers by choice gravitate to this interactive history books. A great way to bring history alive and keep it form being lost on our younger generation.

[Staci]

found this at our local library today. we are visiting Pearl Harbor in April and I wanted the children to study it ahead of time. This is a great companion book told in story fashion, where you get to choose from three different perspectives and then choose different scenarios along the way. It is a wonderful way to view the attack from numerous perspectives as well as a chance to see what would have happened if you had been there based on the actions you choose to take in the book.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some kids that just adore You Choose types of books and this is great for them. It gives several different perspectives of the Pearl Harbor attack - a Navy sailor, a Japanese pilot, and a Navy nurse. In each of those roles, the reader may make many different, sometimes life altering or life-ending choices.

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Attack on Pearl Harbor by Allison Lassieur, readers are given the opportunity to learn about the devastating events of Pearl Harbor in an interactive way. Readers choose to be a Japanese pilot, a U.S. Navy sailor, or a U.S. Navy nurse. Readers then make various choices that will lead to a different outcome. This book has three story lines, fifty-one choices, and nineteen different endings. It is a part of the You Choose: History series. This book was written by Allison Lassieur. David Aiken served as the consultant for this book. The genre is historical fiction. The intended audience of this book children aged nine to twelve. This book did not receive any awards or accolades. I think this book is very appealing to young readers. I think this book would be interesting both to children who enjoy history and to children who do not. It is important to note that some of the endings for this book include death. Therefore, this book is best for older children. This book would be a great resource for teaching as well. These books allow children to learn about various historical events in a new way. The sense of adventure is probably the most appealing aspect of this book. Another appealing aspect of this book would be the language. Lassieur uses simple and easy-to-understand words and phrases. I always find this extremely helpful when reading something based on a certain historical time period or event. This book also provides various pictures to help readers visualize and understand the devastation of this event. For these reasons, I gave this book a five-star rating.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

i picked this many stars because it was a really good book but in the book it lets you choose paths and in some of them i didn't really understand but besides that it was a good book. This book is really entertaining, it could get someone entertained when bored. the book would be better if it had more pathways and endings and if it was a little bit longer.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a wonderful addition to the books we pull for students for our WWII unit. They can read it different times and use it to gain information for their infographics or just to answer the many, many questions they come up with during this unit. Not intimidating and it has some great photos.

[Kaitlyn Kluesner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great interactive book for people wanting to learn about Pearl Harbor. I really enjoy that the reader gets be the main character and pick what they wan to do with their life. Pictures were included to help give the reader a better visual of what they were going through.

[Jacie Haggard · Rating 1 out of 5]

it was very confusing

[Kim Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect way to teach kids about history, by putting them right into the action!

[Cassandra Ulrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading from the different perspectives in this book. I understand more of what happened that day and how scary things were for those attacked in Pearl Harbor.

[Laura Talley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the choose your story path books. An interesting way to read about Pearl Harbor in three different points of view

[Taleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Attack on Pearl Harbor” was a good book and it gave a lot of information about Pearl Harbor. If you want to learn more about Pearl Harbor then you should read this book.

[Brittan Eaton]

This book state fact of Pearl Harbor that were fun to read about.

[James Crawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very hard review to write. Some people will probably massively disagree with what I have to say but I call them as I see them.

The book is of the old choose-your-own-adventure type where you have multiple choices to make which can lead to different endings. Those books tended to deal with fanciful topics like vampires, space aliens, monsters, etc. This book deals with actual history.

You can play one of three parts. You can be a nurse caring for the men during the attack. This part is last and somewhat less developed than the other two parts. The second part is an American sailor during the attack.

The first part, though, is playing the role of a Japanese pilot during the attack. Here's the first thing that bothers me. This type of book is written for younger readers, and what they are asking them to do here is to play the part of someone who hates the United States and has vowed to kill as many Americans as they can.

Sound familiar? Try 9-11 and other terrorist groups and actions. The descriptions, I will add, are quite graphic.

Problem 2. Again, keep in mind this is for younger readers. There are 19 endings. 8 of them in this book end up with the reader being killed. The deaths involve a Japanese pilot acting like a kamikaze and diving his wounded plane into buildings. There are endings involving people being blown up, burned to death and/or drowned. Thus, around 40% of the endings involve the reader dying horribly.

I don't think this is a good approach for the younger readers, unless the author is trying to teach about the horror of dying and the horror of war but somehow I don't think that was the aim.

I'm not sure how I'd change it, but I am quite bothered about the book the way it is now.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our oldest brought this book home from her elementary school library. It's the second You Choose historical adventure book that we've read together and our girls really like them. I remember loving books like this in my childhood and I love that our girls are discovering them as well. I also like that this book has an educational component, teaching about the events of the day that drew America into WWII.

We used to live in Honolulu, with a distant view of the Arizona memorial from our backyard and so this book is a good reminder of the history lesson we know so well. Nothing can beat the raw emotions that the movie at the memorial wells up within you, and nothing drives home the reality of the danger as seeing the bullet-ridden walls of the PACAF headquarters building on Hickam. But as we are far from our old life there, this is a good reminder of "the day that will live in infamy."

Overall, this is an interesting and very dramatic story. It offers a broader perspective than other history books with characters from both sides of the conflict. The book includes nonfiction facts and historical notes, but the storylines are historical fiction, based on people who lived at that time in history.

We enjoyed taking turns following the various paths and our girls were eager to return again and again until we'd followed them all. I am sure that our oldest will bring more books like this home from her school library.

[Victor Pineda-saldana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book that I read was about the attack on Pearl Harbor. The reason I read this book because I want it to know about the point of view of the Japanese Pilots, American sailors and the nurses. This attack is what leads to the U.S. to join the allies’ powers with Russia and England. The Japanese Pilots point of view they were attacking the Americans for the Emperor and the country of Japan and most of the Japanese Pilots knew many of them were not going to return. The American sailors were relaxing then moments later Japanese airplanes were dropping bombs. Many the nurses rushed to the hospital to help the wounded. The Japanese airplanes attack 8 battleships and the airfields. 2,400 Americans Died on the Attack On Pearl Harbor most were burned alive, drown and bleed to death on this horrible attack. Most of the Japanese pilots were proud of the attack but they knew that the Americans would attack them back. 60 years later after this attack America was attack again on September 11, 2001, which met that History, can repeat it self again. This story will always be remember in American History and will continue to be read for future generations to come.

[Jason]

It's a book that has three story paths to take,51 choices to make, and 19 endings to this book ( and the things that you read actully happened to these people that you are suspose to be). One of the paths I took was that I was a japanese airplane fighter heading to pearl harber but instend of crashing into the ship I flew over to Hickam Field and bomed that place like there was no tomarrow. On path number 2 I was on the ship called the arizona when i woke up the boat shook and I went up to the deck to see what happened. The japnese bomed the ship. the ship was on it's side but it wasn't sinking. I saw that people were on the ground maybe dead. Insted of going to people on the ground I through a life boat down me and about five other people junped on it to. Us six people were few of the survivers from that boat. On the third path i'm a japanese airplane fighter heading over to pearl harber. When I get there the americans don't know that we were there intil we were there.

[2 Ryan W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it. An interactive story involving WWII,which I am intrested in. I also like Call Of Duty: Finest Hour for the same reason, being you choose who you are and live through history, but I never thought of there maybe being a book that did the same thing! This is a great book, and I would summarize it, but there's 51 choices and 19 endings, so it would take a while. I just loved this book and the way you get to choose what side you're on.

[Kasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anja read this out loud to me for her book report this month. It lets you choose your paths. We were a Japanese pilot, a US soldier on the USS Arizona and a nurse. It was a good book for children to understand just what happened and what your fate would have been had you been there that day. It helped Anja have a greater understanding of our trip to Pearl Harbor.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interactive story about the attack on Pearl Harbor. You can look at the event from the view of a Japanese pilot, an American sailor, or a Navy nurse. A cute interactive history story. An easy read for younger readers.

[Jeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes history exciting. It puts you in the perspective of a US Navy Sailor, a US Navy Nurse, and a Japanese pilot at Pearl Harbor and lets you make choices like you were there.

I will read more of this series. It was great!

[Jordan D · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was very good but it should have had better ending then what it already had.i would have read it a lot more but i got really bored because there was no way to be a pilot unless you were a japanese pilot.other then that it was a good book.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My class is really into the choose your own adventure stories this year and I know that this will be an instant hot with a lot of them after I book talk the title. I love that there us an educational component with it being set during world war 2.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives alot of information. It is about the attaack on pearl harbor. You can pick who you are and what your actions are. I liked it.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this format, except I would like to have had page numbers showing where I came from so it would be easier to track the story.

[Ss Ho · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's fun, and you get to "experince" the attack.

[Tanya Windham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this interactive version. Choose which point of view

[Kaylin · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this book. I think it is because i went to Pearl Harbor at Hawaii too so I could picture everything that was happening!

[Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

THis was a good book. I read it for my History Day project and it helped me with alot of facts and sources.