Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Candy Bomber by Michael O Tunnel


The History Channel ran a feature on this pilot, Gail Halvorsen. He did it to bring some happiness to the children of war and almost got in bad trouble...

Subtitle: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot". Charlesbridge provided me with this softcover book for review purposes. I chose it because I was familiar with this history and wanted to see how they presented it for young adults.

Mr. Tunnel does a great job of providing illustrations and lots of photos to make the story come to life. The pilot chatted with some of the lonely children at the fence and, in a moment of inspiration, shared a couple of sticks of gum with them. After watching them share tiny pieces amongst themselves, he determined he was going to do something to bring them a bit of happiness.

This is the story of how he started out and what kind of a campaign it turned into, with help from everyone.

The book is well written, the photos express the wonder of his project, and it's a piece of history that should not be forgotten.

Any child with an interest in history or unusual events will enjoy reading this non-fiction account of the Chocolate Pilot. It's written for ages 9-12.

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