Student Saturday: Captured: An American Prisoner of War in North Vietnam by Alvin Townley

 

Genre: Young Adult, Biography
Student Reviewer: Anna H.

“Captured” by Alvin Townley is a taste of reality that most people do not ever experience. The book is an account of an American prisoner of war, Jeremiah (Jerry) Denton, in North Vietnam during the Vietnamese war. Jerry Denton was a commander and a husband to a women named Jane as well as a father to seven children. Denton and his bombardier-navigator, Bill Tschudy, had boarded the aircraft called Independence in June,1965.Soon after takeoff, the ship had crashed in a river in North Vietnam where the Vietnamese Soldiers took them away to a prison which the American soldiers called Hanoi Hilton. Jerry and many other soldiers at the prison began finding ways to communicate using a secret code for letters. They would use a communication method of tapping through the walls and sending messages through the latrine. This went on for some time and then the Vietnamese soldiers wanted the POWs (prisoners of war) to give them as much information as possible. The Americans refused and were only allowed to give their name, rank, service number, and date of birth, as the code of conduct had permitted them to say. The Vietnamese soldiers did not respect their answers and went against the Geneva Convention, an agreement between Vietnam and America that does not allow for cruel, inhumane punishment. They tortured the American soldiers until they couldn't take anymore and forced them to write biographies or give information about America’s army to them. This went on for about six years. During that time the most uncooperative American men, including Jerry and 10 others, were sent to an isolation camp with extremely small cells yet they still found ways to communicate. Back home their wives founded a National league of POW-MIA families which got them out of solitary confinement and closer to returning home. They were no longer tortured and were given a proper amount of food. In February 1973 the war ended, and the American soldiers finally went home to their families after eight long years of misery. Most men made it out alive and with honor because of Jerry Denton's leadership and commanding order. He was a legend to America. 

“Captured” explains the eight hard years that Jeremiah Denton and other Americans experienced while being cut off from the world because of the love for their country and the fight in them. The Biography is a piece of what it is really like to fight for your country even when you must sacrifice time. Some American Soldiers missed the chance to watch their kids grow up and miss important events during the eight years they spent in prison. When I read “Captured” I made a connection with the many families there are in today's world who have loved ones in the army that they may not see often or at all. I am not one for biographies but this one was very good and made me see that we should never take our loved ones for granted. I recommend this book to anyone from ages 13-100. 

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor coerr

Genre: Middle Grade, Biography

Source: Purchased

It has been over thirty years since I read this book. I decided to purchase and reread it again today.  This is the story of a young girl who was an infant when the United States dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima. So many people died. Worse yet were those who developed leukemia years later. Sadako was one of them. She loved to run. She had a dream of making the running team when she got to Junior High. Instead of running, she found herself in the hospital battling leukemia. Her best friend brought her a golden origami crane. She had made it based on the story they had been told about a person making a thousand paper cranes, then they will get well.  

I am sixty-six at this reading. I was so touched at the message in this book. It is a message of hope and never giving up. It is a message of reaching for your dreams.  The author was inspired to write this story for the kids in America. She based it on the biography  of Sadako's life written by her classmates and published. I enjoyed rereading this book so much that I will make sure that I have a copy on my shelves at school. I want to reintroduce one of the most inspirational books I have ever read to a new generation of students.

 

The Forest of Hands and Teeth By Carrie Ryan

Genre: Young Adult, Horror
Source: Purchased

This is actually a reread for me. I read this book the first time in 2009. However, it has remained one of my favorites all these years. Yesterday I reviewed three short stories that are all like prequels to this book. This book at its very basic is about hope. Hope that things will get better in a society filled with the “unconsecrated”, or what we know as Zombies. There is no real telling of how whatever happened began. What was it that started turning people into zombies? One thing is for sure. If bitten by one you have two choices. You can ask to be killed or wait and be turned into a zombie as well.

Mary is one of the main characters in the story. She is in love with a boy named Travis. Henry is Travis’ brother and is in love with Mary. He is helping her one day as she goes to the river to wash her family’s clothes. The alarms begin to go off. Since Henry’s dad is in charge of the alarms and there was not a drill scheduled, they know it is serious. Mary realizes her mother has gotten too close to the fence looking for her husband and she has been bitten. She is isolated until she dies and Mary is held in a cell for a week to make sure she isn’t infected. The next time they hear the alarm go off it is because the infected have managed to break through the fences. Mary, her brother and his wife and Travis and Henry all escape into the woods. However, things don’t go the way they want. All Mary wants is to see if what her mother told her is true, that there is really is an ocean out there somewhere.

This is a book about hope, love, survival and reaching for your dreams. It is one I am glad I reread. I still have these books on my shelves at school ready for me to recommend to all of my students this next year.