The Great Escape: The Longest Tunnel (Sterling Point) - Softcover

Meserole, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1402757050 ISBN 13: 9781402757051

Publisher: Union Square Kids, 2008

Synopsis

A spine-tingling, suspenseful true story of escape during World War II.
Spring, 1943; Stalag Luft III, Germany: every prisoner in the Nazi camps had one thought in mind?to get out. The organization was in place, with men digging hidden passageways and squads dispersing yellow sand in the middle of soccer scrimmages. Forgers worked to create false travel documents. Tailors stitched up civilian suits from blankets. Their goal? To break out of an ?escape-proof” German prison camp and raise havoc throughout the German countryside. The stakes were high, however: anyone caught would be executed.
Author Mike Meserole keeps the tension high in this newly-written tale filled with daring and danger. Kids will hang on to every word.

About this title

Reviews

Grade 6–8—"For you the war is over." These were the first words translated from German heard by most downed Allied pilots when rounded up as POWs during World War II. For the British RAF, the first code of conduct was to escape. Those who did make it out were usually caught and returned and, under the rules of the Geneva Convention, punished without fatal consequences. A group of highly crafty, daring, and determined POWs in Stalag Luft III, comprised of dedicated British and American servicemen, used disciplined secret planning and organized execution with basic engineering and mining knowledge to pull off "the Great Escape." Meserole's compelling narrative takes readers through the early days of strategic thinking to the amazing nail-biting escape through a 30-foot-deep tunnel on a moonless night in late winter. The easy-to-read text, embellished with drawings of tunnel blueprints and black-and-white photos of the events, vividly describes the ingenuity and hard labor of several hundred men who not only clandestinely dug and disposed of tons of sand, but also created tools from scraps of metal and wood, civilian clothing, and counterfeit documents right under the noses of their captors. The author is careful to create suspense and intrigue but brings his account to an honest conclusion with the Nazis's vengeful response to the event. This story has been previously told on film as well as in print, but it will nevertheless interest today's readers.—Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI
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Edition details

• Publisher: Union Square Kids
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1402757050
• ISBN 13: 9781402757051
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 225