Day Of Infamy: Pearl Harbor: The U.S. Enters World War II by Steve Dougherty

"We were just talking... and the next second, we're in a world war."

For the sailors, airmen, and citizens of the still sleepy town of Pearl Harbor, the world changed in one terrifying moment as the Japanese attack spread over the American fleet at anchor in the harbor.

There is no shortage of wonderful books about World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor, some of them, fiction and nonfiction, reviewed here, and all of them worthy gifts for young history buffs. But in Franklin Watts/Scholastic's new 24/7 Goes to War, we have a powerful new series which is both grippingly written and easily accessible to the elementary and middle school reader.

Steve Dougherty's Pearl Harbor: The U.S. Enters World War II (24/7 Goes to War) takes the student of World War II along as an eyewitness to the events which make that war one of the most eagerly studied of historical events. Lively first-person accounts are paired with skillful analysis of the world events leading up to that fatal morning of December 7 as well as a sure-footed placing of this seminal event within the grand sweep of the war's history, all backed up with the best of nonfiction book design--lively and clear photographs from the period, text box inserts with facts, maps, and diagrams, and eye-catching layouts which lead the reader through the clearly written and engaging text. Within its easily devoured 64-page format, the author also includes backmatter essential for both understanding the period and doing basic research for reports--a timeline, resources found in recent books and very useful web sites, a glossary of essential terms, a bibliography of sources, and a full index.

The latest in this series, Terry Miller's D-Day: The Allies Strike Back During World War II (24/7: Goes to War: on the Battlefield) (Scholastic, 2010) continues the high standards of this series, with absorbing, even page-turning narration and first-person details, great graphics, and plenty of depth of coverage to give even the novice would-be historian a solid grasp of the basic outlines of the subject. This is definitely nonfiction that makes the grade!