146 reviews for:

Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor

Alan Gratz

4.07 AVERAGE

a_oriend's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

jenzim85's review

3.0

adventurous inspiring fast-paced

megs_s's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

treylaura's review

5.0

informative tense fast-paced

bridgetbosworth's review

4.5

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

ninareads_'s review

5.0

emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

arrrgh_schooling's review

4.0

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

andiesmith's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous

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Middle-grade reader or not, @alan.gratz doesn’t ever let us down. I was so excited to see this book announced. We need more stories in the Pacific during WWII. This is a beautiful and intense story of two boys growing up on Ford Island; Pearl Harbor was their playground…until the Japanese attack. The boys are in the middle of it all when the attack starts. During this time, the boys are terrified but also use their strengths to try to help.  changing their lives forever like many on December 7, 1941.  

 

The two friends love comics, and one of their names is Stanley. I have to wonder if this was a nod to Stan Lee. 

 

Thank you, @netgalley and @Scholastic, for an advanced reader copy. 

lvandever's review

4.0

adventurous emotional informative sad fast-paced

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Alan Gratz has one again taken a World War II event and written a story to put middle grade readers write into the action. 

This book focuses on Frank and his Japanese American friend, Stanley. Both of their dads are pilots for the Navy during World War II, and their families are stationed at Pearl Harbor. The book starts the day before the Pearl Harbor attack and walks us through the events through Frank's eyes all the way until a few weeks after the attack. 

While the start of the book was a little slow and confusing as Gratz made illusion to an "Incident" that Frank had endured, the book picked up and explained itself well as the action got started. Gratz did a fantastic job showing the terror of being in the middle of an attack while also weaving in the instantenous shift that Japanese Americans had to endure during and after the attacks from white Americans. He also weaves in the history and inclusion of Asian American representation in comic books which was a perspective I did not know a lot about. 

Overall, this will be a great addition to my Alan Gratz connection in my classroom library. My students will definitely be fighting over this one as soon as it is added to the shelf. 

mknygard_tn's review

4.5

adventurous inspiring tense fast-paced

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Alan Gratz does it again! The action starts early and doesn't slow down. The depiction of the bombing of Pearl Harbor is intense, but not inappropriate.  The friendship between Frank and Stanley shows room for both their growth and the difference in their experiences as a white American (Frank) and Japanese American (Stanley). The use of the comic book origin story is a smart way to demonstrate to readers what Frank and Stanley are navigating as young boys in a turbulent time and how they come to a definition of what a true hero is. This book will be a bit hit!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Violence