Acts of Courage: Inside America's Military

These books identify individuals from the five military service divisions who have been recently honored for heroic deeds. Brief vignettes tell the stories of the recipients’ heroism and identify the medals awarded. Readers will appreciate the photographs of the honorees that accompany the accessible texts.

These books identify individuals from the five military service divisions who have been recently honored for heroic deeds. Brief vignettes tell the stories of the recipients’ heroism and identify the medals awarded. Readers will appreciate the photographs of the honorees that accompany the accessible texts.

These slender volumes use bright backgrounds, large color photographs, and limited text to tell the stories of the military men and women who have gotten the Silver Star and other awards for bravery. Each book begins with a picture of the Twin Towers and a brief explanation of the war on terrorism, followed by a quick summary of the roots of the war in Iraq. The books don’t spend space explaining the various branches of the service—the focus here is entirely on individual war stories, with the first few heroes given two to four pages, while shorter accounts come at the end. Each group of profiles includes a nice balance of ethnicities. Today’s Air Force Heroes includes great shots of planes and offers close-ups of the medals. Today’s Army Heroes includes plenty of photographs of the honored heroes in their military gear. Today’s Marine Heroes is especially action packed and includes many exciting recaps of daring missions. Today’s Navy Heroes centers mostly on medical personnel who assist the marines, since they are the ones in the center of the action, but also includes a heroic navy photographer. Older students with weaker reading skills will not be embarrassed to be seen reading these military-themed books. The stories are gripping, and each book includes a story of one military hero who made “the greatest sacrifice.”

This series shares the combat stories of individual soldiers from diverse backgrounds and rank. The profiled service members committed outstanding acts of bravery and were decorated accordingly, sometimes making the ultimate sacrifice, a fact that is emphasized throughout. The volumes start with a quick description of 9/11 or, in the case of Coast Guard, a story of a rescue mission. They move on to combat in the Middle East, and/or disaster-relief missions. Action-filled color photos enliven every spread…. This series will have the most appeal in areas with high military interest.