World War II Close Up: They Battled in Blizzards

Gr 5-8–The Battle of the Bulge, raging for six frigid weeks starting in mid-December 1944, is the largest battle ever fought by U.S. forces, involving more than 600,000 American soldiers and resulting in 80,000 casualties and nearly 20,000 deaths. Hopkinson tells the story from the perspectives of soldiers who participated: a reconnaissance officer who had signed up for paid National Guard summer camp at age 14 to help his family and found himself a 20-year-old first lieutenant facing heavy combat; and a Russian Jewish refugee from Germany who fled to New York with his family, was drafted two years later, and subsequently became a well-known literary historian. Numerous contemporary photos and artwork created by battle participants break up the text and underscore elements of the narrative. Sidebars highlight complementary stories, such as that of the 761st Tank Battalion, America’s first all-Black combat unit. Following a photo scrapbook of the siege of a Belgian town, the text concludes with an abundance of back matter, including a selected time line of the war, a list of resources and links, such as websites for museums and online exhibitions, oral histories from the U.S. National World War Two Museum, a selected bibliography, and detailed source notes. Regrettably, a profusion of front matter and the diffuse narrative, shifting frequently among points of view, detract from engagement with what should be a gripping story.