Unbroken

Unbroken
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2014-07-29
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0812974492

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Appearing in paperback for the first time—with twenty arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author—Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand. Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.”—New York “Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.”—People “A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”—The Washington Post “Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . incredible . . . [Hillenbrand] has crafted another masterful blend of sports, history and overcoming terrific odds; this is biography taken to the nth degree, a chronicle of a remarkable life lived through extraordinary times.”—The Dallas Morning News “An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.”—Entertainment Weekly “A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.”—Washingtonian “[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”—Time “Hillenbrand [is] one of our best writers of narrative history. You don’t have to be a sports fan or a war-history buff to devour this book—you just have to love great storytelling.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Louis Zamperini

Louis Zamperini
Author: Janet Benge
Publisher: Heroes of History
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781624860492

As an Olympic runner, a bombardier in the Army Air Corps, and a prisoner of war, Louis Zamperini was determined to thrive and survive. Never backing down from a challenge, Louie lived a life of adventure while modeling hope and forgiveness to a generation.A magnet for trouble as a boy, Louis Zamperini determined to create a new path for himself. Nicknamed the "Torrance Tornado," he set national records and traveled to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. His resolve as a runner was matched by his will to survive a plane crash, weeks adrift at sea, and years in a prison camp. This American hero encouraged countless others to have faith and to persevere through trials, revealing that no life is beyond redemption (1917-2014).Heroes of History is a unique biography series that brings the shaping of history to life with the remarkable true stories of fascinating men and women who changed the course of history. The stories of Heroes of History are told in an engaging narrative format, where related history, geography, government, and science topics come to life and make a lasting impression. This is a premier biography line for the entire family.Pages: 220 (paperback)Ages: 10+

Devil at My Heels

Devil at My Heels
Author: Louis Zamperini
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2004-02-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780060934217

The "inspirational" and "extraordinary" memoir of one of the most courageous of the greatest generation, Louis Zamperini: Olympian, WWII Japanese POW and survivor. A juvenile delinquent, a world class NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a WWII bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a fuller than most, when it changed in an instant. On May 27, 1943, his B–24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Louis and two other survivors found a raft amid the flaming wreckage and waited for rescue. Instead, they drifted two thousand miles for forty–seven days. Their only food: two shark livers and three raw albatross. Their only water: sporadic rainfall. Their only companions: hope and faith–and the ever–present sharks. On the forty–seventh day, mere skeletons close to death, Zamperini and pilot Russell Phillips spotted land–and were captured by the Japanese. Thus began more than two years of torture and humiliation as a prisoner of war. Zamperini was threatened with beheading, subject to medical experiments, routinely beaten, hidden in a secret interrogation facility, starved and forced into slave labour, and was the constant victim of a brutal prison guard nicknamed the Bird–a man so vicious that the other guards feared him and called him a psychopath. Meanwhile, the Army Air Corps declared Zamperini dead and President Roosevelt sends official condolences to his family, who never gave up hope that he was alive. Somehow, Zamperini survived and he returned home a hero. The celebration was short–lived. He plunged into drinking and brawling and the depths of rage and despair. Nightly, the Bird's face leered at him in his dreams. It would take years, but with the love of his wife and the power of faith, he was able to stop the nightmares and the drinking. A stirring memoir from one of the greatest of the "Greatest Generation," DEVIL AT MY HEELS is a living document about the brutality of war, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the power of forgiveness.

The Trumpet of the Swan: Louie the Hero

The Trumpet of the Swan: Louie the Hero
Author: Lin Oliver
Publisher: HarperFestival
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2002-03-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780694016198

Louie, a trumpeter swan who plays the trumpet, spends his summer as the camp bugler and becomes a hero when he saves a boy from drowning.

Women Heroes of World War II—the Pacific Theater

Women Heroes of World War II—the Pacific Theater
Author: Kathryn J. Atwood
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2016-10-01
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 161373171X

A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2017 Glamorous American singer Claire Phillips opened a nightclub in manila, using the earnings to secretly feed starving American POWs. She also began working as a spy, chatting up Japanese military men and passing their secrets along to local guerrilla resistance fighters. Australian Army nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, stationed in Singapore, then shipwrecked in the the Dutch East Indies, became the sole survivor of a horrible massacre by Japanese soliders. She hid for days, tending to a seriously wounded British soldier while wounded herself. Humanitarian Elizabeth Choy lived the rest of her life hating war, though not her tormentors, after enduring six months of starvation and torture by the Japanese military police. In these pages, readers will meet these and other courageous women and girls who risked their lives through their involvement in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Fifteen suspense-filled stories unfold across China, Japan, Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines, providing an inspiring reminder of womens' and girls' refusal to sit on the sidelines around the world and throughout history. These women—whose stories span 1932 to 1945, the last year of the war—served in dangerous roles as spies, medics, journalists, resisters, and saboteurs. Seven of them were captured and imprisoned by the Japanese, enduring brutal conditions. Author Kathryn J. Atwood provides appropriate context and framing for teens 14 and up to grapple with these harsh realities of war. Discussion questions and a guide for further study assist readers and educators in learning about this important and often neglected period of history.

Louis Zamperini

Louis Zamperini
Author: Renee Taft Meloche
Publisher: Emerald
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-12
Genre: Biography
ISBN: 9781624860508

Louis Zamperini (1917-2014) The plane began to slowly glide, then much to Louie's shock it started shaking back and forth, then dropped down like a rock. It hit the water, blew apart, but Louie had survived! He saw a drifting raft he'd need to help him stay alive. One of America's fastest runners and a celebrated Olympic racer, Louis Zamperini suddenly found himself adrift when his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean during World War II. Louie applied his strength, determination, and cleverness to survive many dangers at sea. Captured by the enemy, he endured two years of harsh treatment as a prisoner of war. Battling fears and nightmares after his return home, he found hope and strength as he devoted his life to God and to serving others. The adventurous life of this survivor and champion is an inspiration to all.

Triumph

Triumph
Author: Janet Benge
Publisher: Broadstreet Publishing
Total Pages: 175
Release: 2014-11
Genre: Christian biography
ISBN: 9781424549122

Triumph is a biography about the life and faith of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner, WWII bombardier, plane crash survivor, POW, and one of America's greatest heroes.

Louie the Rune Soldier

Louie the Rune Soldier
Author: Ryou Mizuno
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2004-10-12
Genre: Adventure and adventurers
ISBN: 9781413901238

Ila receives news of a monk who has developed a magical technique that will allow him to control the weather. The Elves in the forest of Tartious are experiencing bizarre weather, which makes life miserable in the forest. Selecia comes to Louie and his group for help. Louie and the other three, Selecia, Ila, and their new mascot, Ale, set off to settle the monk's hash-but first they have to deal with the monk's golem! In the second half of the volume, Louie and the others meet a little girl, Muriel, who is the daughter of a wealthy businessman in town. She has run away from her father because he has arranged a marriage for her. Merrill comes up with a plan to make the father annul the marriage, but it unfortunately leads to Louie taking the would-be groom's place!

Trumpet of the Swan

Trumpet of the Swan
Author: HarperFestival
Publisher: Turtleback Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2002
Genre:
ISBN: 9780613504645

Generations have grown up with E. B. White's classic novels. Now younger readers can experience the joy of reading about Louie the trumpeter swan and his friends in this adorable reader with original full-color illustrations.