December 7, 1941: A morning like any other, but the events of this day would leave no one untouched.

For Adam, living near Honolulu, this Sunday morning is one he has been looking forward to -- fishing with friends, away from the ever-watchful eyes of his father, a navy lieutenant. Then, right before his eyes, Adam watches Japanese planes fly overhead and attack the U.S. Navy. All he can think is that it's just like in the movies. But as he sees his father's ship, the Arizona, sink beneath the water, he realizes this isn't make-believe. It's real.

Over the next few days, Adam searches for answers -- about his friends, the war, and especially, his father. But Adam soon learns sometimes there are no answers.

Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor

ANNOTATION

While fishing with his friends off Honolulu on December 7, 1941, teenaged Adam is caught in the midst of the Japanese attack and through the chaos of the subsequent days tries to find his father, a naval officer who was serving on the U.S.S. Arizona when the bombs fell.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

December 7, 1941:A morning like any other, but the events of this day would leave no one untouched.

For Adam, living near Honolulu, this Sunday morning is one he has been looking forward to -- fishing with friends, away from the ever-watchful eyes of his father, a navy lieutenant. Then, right before his eyes, Adam watches Japanese planes fly overhead and attack the U.S. Navy. All he can think is that it's just like in the movies. But as he sees his father's ship, the Arizona, sink beneath the water, he realizes this isn't make-believe. It's real.

Over the next few days, Adam searches for answers -- about his friends, the war, and especially, his father. But Adam soon learns sometimes there are no answers.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

A 14-year-old boy, newly arrived in 1941 Hawaii, witnesses the attack on Pearl Harbor. In a starred review, PW said, "Mazer successfully fuses a strong portrayal of Adam's transformation with both a vivid account of the attack and subtle suggestions of the complexities of Japanese-American relations as played out in particular lives." Ages 10-14. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Mazer's (The Last Mission) taut adventure adopts the perspective of a 14-year-old newly arrived in Hawaii to capture the chaos surrounding the unexpected attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Adam is fishing near Pearl Harbor when the bombs are dropped. "That sounds so real," he says to himself at the first explosions, not yet believing the planes and noise are not part of a war exercise or maybe a movie. Taken for a navy man, he is thrown into the attempts to save lives. As the attack continues, the resulting confusion is reflected in staccato and impressionistic language: "The water around the once-proud battleship was thick with oil, and it stunk. Smoke and filth. Life rafts, pieces of boats, and men floundered in the watery debris.... A foot, an arm. He saw everything through a red haze. He ran. He slipped in blood." As the turmoil subsides, the effect on Adam of a "whole life lived in that one day" is immediate and profound. A day earlier he was struggling to measure himself against his navy lieutenant father, only to lose his father in the sunken USS Arizona and become a man himself. Mazer successfully fuses a strong portrayal of Adam's transformation with both a vivid account of the attack and subtle suggestions of the complexities of Japanese-American relations as played out in particular lives. Expert work. Ages 10-14. (May) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature - Marya Jansen-Gruber

Adam and his family have just moved to Honolulu. His father is an officer on the U.S.S. Arizona and is very much a spit-and-polish kind of man. He is also the kind of man who does not want his son to be seen hanging around with a Japanese boy. Adam has made friends with a Nisei boy, Davi. Davi's parents came to Hawaii from Japan but Davi considers himself to be as American as Adam is. Being told that he can't see Davi again is very hard for Adam. Despite his father's words and feeling angry and confused about what to do, Adam finds himself going fishing with Davi and another boy. They go down to the harbor. There, they find a rowboat, and just as they are settling down to fish all hell breaks loose. With horrified eyes they watch Japanese planes bomb Battleship Row. Adam sees his father's ship being attacked and sinking. What follows is a series of nightmarish events. During these events Adam discovers all sorts of things about himself and others, and he is forced to come to some awful conclusions. This touching and sometimes painful story is told through the eyes and heart of a boy searching for a reason for war and suffering. Adam finds himself seeking the love and recognition of his demanding father and also a place for himself in the world. 2002, Aladdin Paperbacks,

VOYA

Living with his family in Honolulu, fourteen-year-old Adam Pelko is proud of his father, a lieutenant serving on the battleship Arizona. Adam is not happy, however, with his father's command that he abandon his new friendship with his Nisei friend, Davi. Adam has promised to go fishing with Davi, and on the morning of December 7, 1941, he is in a rowboat with Davi and Davi's friend when the Japanese attack the American fleet. Adam sees the Arizona sink just before the boys' rowboat is hit. Events are viewed from Adam's perspective as he sees the death and destruction around him. After rescuing his friends, he is mistaken in the confusion for a sailor and is commandeered to save sailors from destroyed battleships. Mazer gives a sense of what it was like to be at Pearl Harbor as bombs fell and sailors, burned and covered in oil, floundered in the sea. An epilogue provides statistics on the logistics of the attack, describes anti-Japanese attitudes, and records the bravery of the all-Hawaiian 42nd Regimental Combat Team. In reproducing the credo of correct, stiff-upper-lip military demeanor in his representation of a naval family, Mazer's treatment of relationships and bereavement seems a little flat and lacking emotion. This short novel might appeal to reluctant readers and could be linked in booktalks with Graham Salisbury's Under the Blood-Red Sun (Delacorte, 1994/VOYA October 1994). VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P M J (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2001, Simon & Schuster, 112p, Ages 12 to 15. Reviewer: Hilary Crew SOURCE: VOYA, June 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 2)

KLIATT

Fourteen-year-old Adam has lived on military bases all over the U.S. as the proud son of a navy lieutenant. Now, in 1941, Adam's family has moved to Hawaii, where his father is stationed on the battleship Arizona, moored in Pearl Harbor. Adam is starting at a new school once again, and there he meets Davi, a Japanese-American boy. The two become friends, and Adam joins Davi early one morning to go fishing in Pearl Harbor—the fateful morning of Dec. 7. The boys are caught in the middle of the Japanese attack on the American fleet, and Adam watches as his father's ship goes up in flames. Grazed by a bullet but not seriously hurt, Adam gets mistaken for a sailor and pressed into service as a volunteer, and he does what he can to help in the midst of terrible tragedy and chaos. His mother and sister are safe, but there is no sign of his father, and they hope against hope that he is still alive. Meanwhile, Davi survives the attack, but his father, who is Japanese, is taken away and locked up. Confronting prejudice (in himself and in others), loss, and grief, Adam experiences "a whole life lived in that one day." This brief but powerful novel conveys the devastation, both physical and emotional, wrought by the surprise attack, as experienced by a young teenager. Mazer, the author of The Last Mission and many other books for YAs, drew on his own memories of WW II, and he succeeds in evoking the action and horror of war. A worthy companion to studies of the war, and a good choice for reluctant readers, because it moves so swiftly and covers such a dramatic and important historical event. KLIATT Codes: J—Recommended for junior high school students. 2001, Simon & Schuster, 112p,$15.00. Ages 13 to 15. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick; May 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 3) Read all 7 "From The Critics" >