Overview

This science-history nonfiction adventure mash-up will be on every middle grade reader's radar. This science-history nonfiction adventure mash-up will be on every middle grade reader's radar. Who knew that an improbable rescue during WWII would be facilitated by scientific discoveries in the 18th century? Expert researcher and educator Jeff Lantos makes the history-science connection between batteries and radar and one oceanic adventure in this engaging middle-grade escapade told in two intertwining storylines. Readers are first invited to follow scientific discoveries in the 1700s that eventually lead to the creation of radar, and are then immersed in a world where World War II rages. German U-boats sink ships, and the ship just hit has an American mom and her two young kids aboard. Now Ethel, Robert, and Mary Bell are on a raft with fourteen other people, floating in the ocean and hoping for rescue. Lantos expertly weaves radar's story of discovery with the Bell family's harrowing journey, bringing readers on an exciting fast-paced adventure through history. ♦ ""A rare and exhilarating mix of hard science and seagoing terror."" -Kirkus Reviews, starred review

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9781623543457

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Reviews

♦ Interwoven storylines link a triumphant technological advance with a harrowing tale of survival at sea. In a real pleaser for readers with an expansive range of interests, Lantos twines a meaty account of the invention of radar with the story of how that device came into play in rescuing a raft crowded with the survivors of an American cargo ship torpedoed weeks before by a U-boat in shark-infested waters. He traces the history of radar from 18th-century Italian anatomy professor Luigi Galvani’s experiments with twitching frog legs to the powerful detection device that gave the Allies a significant, perhaps even decisive, advantage in World War II. Lantos also tells some absorbing side stories along the way. He not only describes the development of electromagnetic theory in specific but largely non-mathematical terms, but also—drawing from eyewitness accounts of raft survivors who were Christian missionaries returning from Ivory Coast—vividly captures the perils faced by those deemed enemy foreigners, trapped in countries suddenly under Nazi control. Likewise notable are his follow-up passages on radar’s myriad offspring from microwave ovens to GPS, as well as thrilling mentions of the still-unrecovered $50 million in Congolese gold that went down with the torpedoed cargo ship. The illustrations mix old photos and documents with Marks’ watercolor views of figures in West African and nautical settings in a mishmash that somehow suits the broad range of themes and topics. The bibliography and endnotes are likewise admirable in both bulk and scope. A rare and exhilarating mix of hard science and seagoing terror. —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Author Information

Jeff Lantos was a fifth-grade teacher in Pacific Palisades, California, where he often wrote history-based musicals for his students to perform. He still often works with schoolkids and history-based productions. A UCLA study showed that his students' retention of history is higher than their peers. He was nominated for a 2015 Excellence in Theatre Education Award from the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University. He holds a degree from Brown University and has worked producing musicals on Broadway. Alan Marks began his career illustrating for magazines and newspapers in England. His first children's book Storm, written by Kevin Crossley Holland, won the Carnegie Medal. He is also the illustrator of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book A Mother's Journey, as well as Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle, Planet Zoo, The Spirit of the Forest, and more. Alan lives in an old house in the Kent countryside with his wife and two daughters. www.marksonpaper.co.uk

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