Mazer, Harry. Heroes Don't Run: A Novel of the Pacific War

Kliatt, July, 2005 by Paula Rohrlick

MAZER, Harry. Heroes don't run; a novel of the Pacific war. Simon & Schuster. 128p. c2005. 0-689-85534-6. $15.95. JS

In this final book of a trilogy that began with A Boy at War and continued in A Boy No More, the year is 1944 and 17-year-old Adam can't wait to sign up to become a Marine. His father, a naval officer, died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Adam is determined to do his part in the war before it ends. His mother won't sign the papers for him to enlist, so he talks his grandfather, who is a veteran himself, into signing for him. Then it's off to the rigors of boot camp and eventually Okinawa, where Adam experiences firsthand the "meat grinder" of war and what it's like to lose friends in battle. Injured by a mortar shell, he undergoes operations on his leg in Honolulu, where he meets up again with his Hawaiian friend Martin and his Japanese American friend Davi. Adam is shipped home to California in the summer of 1945, anticipating the possibility of romance with a beautiful girl he had met before shipping out. He concludes that despite the "dark world of guns and death" he had experienced, "we'd made a better world."

This spare, action-filled tale can stand on its own, though readers who have enjoyed the other books about Adam will certainly want to read this one. Mazer, a WW II vet who lied about his age to enlist, convincingly depicts the brutality of training and war, and concludes with a historical note on the bloody battle for Okinawa. A good choice for reluctant readers and fans of historical fiction. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.

S--Recommended for senior high school students.