Tuskegee Airmen: American Heroes

by Lynn Homan, Thomas Reilly, Rosalie Shepherd (Illustrator)

Overview

A young readers' account of the brave men who battled in the skies and triumphed against segregation at home during World War II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781565549944
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	08/31/2002
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	640,674
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Authors Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly bring extensive experience in historical research, writing, and creative design to their work. They have written thirteen books together, including Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen and The Tuskegee Airmen Story, both available from Pelican Publishing. Their work has been featured in such publications as the North Carolina Historical Review and in exhibits in several museums.


Authors Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly bring extensive experience in historical research, writing, and creative design to their work. They have written thirteen books together, including Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen and The Tuskegee Airmen Story, both available from Pelican Publishing. Their work has been featured in such publications as the North Carolina Historical Review and in exhibits in several museums.


Illustrator Rosalie M. Shepherd is a landscape and portrait painter who works with oil, charcoal, and watercolor and has worked extensively as a graphic designer. This is her third book with Homan and Reilly. She also illustrated the late David Collins's last book, Clarence Thomas, Fighter with Words.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5-8-As this novel opens, Victor Kennedy, an elderly African American, takes control of the class in a Washington, DC, middle school in which he is substituting by writing the word "Tuskegee" on the chalkboard. He tells the students about segregated America, World War II, and the Tuskegee Airmen. (The kids in this class have never even heard of segregation.) Over the course of several days, he relates the history of the latter and reveals that he was a member of the distinguished corps. Although the information is accurate, the format leaves much to be desired. The chapters are arranged chronologically, but it is difficult to follow the Airmen's story. The text is repeatedly broken up with questions and comments from the students, all of whom are totally involved in Mr. Kennedy's teaching. The contrived and unrealistic setting will make the book unappealing to fiction readers, and the format makes research use impossible. The black-and-white illustrations add little to the story. Better-organized, more readable accounts can be found in Jacqueline Harris's The Tuskegee Airmen: Black Heroes of World War II (Dillon, 1996; o.p.) or Michael L. Cooper's The Double V Campaign: African Americans and World War II (Lodestar, 1998; o.p.).-Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal