School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-This well-researched volume tells the story of the army and navy nurses who were stationed in the Philippines during World War II. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese began bombing the Philippines. The 79 nurses serving there came from different backgrounds: some longed for an escape from farm life, while others sought adventure. All wanted to find meaningful work caring for others. During the bombardment, their subsequent retreat and, finally, their imprisonment by the Japanese, the nurses never stopped taking care of those around them. After months of near starvation, they were finally liberated by American forces in 1945. Yet even when the nurses arrived home, their troubles were not over. Many had difficulty readjusting to life at home; their experiences just didn't fit the paradigm of women's lives in the mid-20th century. As part of her research, Farrell interviewed the last surviving nurse, plus the children of many of the others, and the text is full of primary source documentation. This adds rich detail to make the circumstances all the more real, whether they are the injuries the nurses treated or the horrific conditions in the prison camps. In addition to photographs and helpful maps, the page layouts include facsimiles of the nurses' letters and diaries. Young readers who enjoyed Tanya Lee Stone's Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream will also appreciate this story of courageous women whose story was nearly forgotten.-Jackie Partch, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"Grit" scarcely describes what the heroines of this stark chronicle of wartime military service demonstrated. Farrell (Fire in the Hole!) lays bare the experiences of Army and Navy nurses who enlisted for peacetime duty in the Philippines, caring for military families at base hospitals. Their jobs and lives drastically changed when the Japanese invaded the country after attacking Pearl Harbor, thrusting the nurses into combat duty as bombs "dropped in droves" around them. When wards overflowed with wounded soldiers, the Army constructed makeshift hospitals in jungles, which further eroded many nurses' living and working conditions. As internees in POW camps after the Americans surrendered to the Japanese, the women endured deplorable housing facilities, disease, and malnutrition as they continued to care for patients. Farrell's immersing account draws on her interviews with the last surviving nurse (who has since died) and the children of other nurses, as well as transcripts of other interviews. She brings her subjects' personalities and harrowing ordeal into clear focus and sheds deserved light on this chapter of WWII history. Ages 10-16. Agent: Stephen Fraser, Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.