This is the inspiring and nail-biting true account of eight men (the flight crew and two others), including WWI war hero Eddie Rickenbacker, who were lost at sea during WWII for three weeks after their plane crashed. The crew's assignment was to fly Rickenbacker on a secret mission into the war zone in the Pacific. Instead, they got lost and, low on fuel, were forced to ditch the plane into the ocean. Struggling to survive in enemy waters, they wrestled with hunger, sickness, death, despair, sharks, the turbulent sea, and one another pecially as Rickenbacker tried to bully the rest into not giving up. Although the book lacks a map or source notes, it contains photos, a glossary, and an author's note that explains the inclusion of reconstructed conversations, based on the published accounts of survivors. This short but intense story shows how disasters can bring out the best and worst in people as they deal heroically with hunger and thirst and the desperate will to survive.

Gr 6-9 The date is October 21, 1942, and somewhere over the Pacific Ocean a lone B-17 runs low on fuel. In order to avert a crash, the pilot and copilot choose to attempt to land the plane on the surface of the ocean amid 20-foot swells. They are successful, and thus begins the survival struggle of eight men in three tiny life rafts. Olson skillfully tells of the physical and mental torture the men endured, floating for 22 days with no protection from the elements and with limited amounts of food and water (two oranges, a small bird, a few fish, and a little bit of rainwater). Much of the narration focuses on Col. Eddie Rickenbacker's role in the men's survival. Some of the crew were eventually spotted and rescued by a search plane, while others were saved by people from the island of Funafuti. Only one did not survive the ordeal. The clearly written text is engaging and accompanied by numerous black-and-white photos. However, one sentence erroneously states that the president, not Congress, declared war. Clippings from newspapers and magazines are included in the back matter. VERDICT A great choice for collections in need of World War II survival stories for middle schoolers. Eldon Younce, Anthony Public Library, KS