Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: Allies by Alan Gratz

Image: Scholastic Inc.
Allies by Alan Gratz. 325 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., October 15, 2019. 9781338245721. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher. Own hc.) 

Teen Tuesday wishes a belated happy book birthday to Allies by Alan Gratz. Gratz is a favorite author here at TMS and his latest entry has been highly anticipated. His well-researched historical fiction really connects young readers to history. Readers who think they don't like historical fiction find that they do when introduced to any Gratz title.

In Allies, the epic D-Day invasion is told from the point-of-view of multiple players. The invasion was a massive, multi-pronged assault on the beaches of Normandy and a make-or break moment for the allied forces. The action is non-stop as the reader follows the actions of a young U.S. Army recruit getting sea-sick in a boat about to storm the beach, a tween daughter of a captured French Resistance fighter who has to think quickly when her mother is captured by the Nazis, a British paratrooper, a Black medic, as well as a Cree and a Canadian soldier on that fateful day. Gratz recreates the terror, confusion, horror and heroism as over 160,000 Allied forces came together to take back the beach, France and defeat the Nazis. 

Allies is unputdownable and one for the reread pile. Highly recommended and well-deserving of all the stars and praise.

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