Hello everyone,
I recently asked you all if anyone knew if the book "Left for Dead: A Young
Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis" by Pete Nelson was a good
choice for middle school students. Basically, the book was inspired by a
Florida 11-year-old boy who was watching the movie Jaws and noticed a passing
reference to the USS Indianapolis tragedy. His research on this eventually
exonerated the captain of the ship posthumously, and resulted in this book and a
documentary. The story is told from the pov of the survivors.
I didn't say I would post a HIT, but have been thinking it would be a good
idea in case others are looking for an intruiging book to offer students. The
concesus is 9 out of 9 LM_NETters responded very favorably! Here are some of
the responses:
> I used this book quite successfully as an introduction for History Day
with honors students. They seem to get the drive that this kid felt. I gave them
the quick overview, shared passages and then made the copies available for
kids to check out. Boys really responded to this.
> I give a book talk on it during the WW II unit taught in the 6th grade
social studies classes. In fact, Maurice Bell speaks to our students. He is
featured in the book and one of the survivors interviewed by Hunter Scott, the
young man whose history project resulted in the book. He is from Pensacola you
know. Hunter was in 6th grade when he began his investigation into why there
was so little on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. He was contacted by
Maurice Bell of Mobile, AL after he advertised in a local navy newspaper that
he wanted to interview survivors. Hunter was directly responsible for getting
Capt. McVay exonerated albeit posthumously. The book is not required reading
but is very popular with our boys after my book talk. I would only recommend
it at the middle school level for mature students and excellent readers.
> left for dead was an Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award Book for
Illionois last year. ...my ninth graders did it for book club and loved it.
Surprise since most are girls but I make them chose something for the boys as
well.....
It was also chosen as one of the lit circle reads in a ninth grade class and
it received glowing reports there as well. SO, if her kids are on the
mature side.......
My kids got into the Jaws thing, the fact that it was a middle school
history project that started the whole thing and of course the survival story
itself.
> I am using that book with 8th graders now in which the students had a
choice of using that or many other titles about WWII. It was rarely
selected, I believe, because it is not "packaged" as a middle school
book. I know that the content is valuable, but the students need to be
pushed into selecting that book.
> I've shared the book
in my library with several middle schoolers and have gotten really
positive responses. Our schools are extremely active in history day
competitions and really relish this book. I have shown it to girls, but
the boys are usually the ones who ask for it (or ask about books about
battleships, etc.) I've spoken with a few remedial reading middle school
teachers who say that it isn't a good book for struggling readers.
> This is a great choice in non-fiction. Random House has a teaching guide
available at:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/teachers_guides/9780385729598.pdf
> I did it as a Battle of the Books title. BOYS loved it. Some girls. But
it was really a GUY book.
Hope this is helpful, and thanks again to all who responded!
Rita Mayer MS, MLS
Library Media Specialist
All Angels Academy
Miami Springs, FL
http://www.allangelsacademy.org/
mediamayer@aol.com
**************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.
(http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)
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