In Harm's Way

February 1, 2022
Grades 6-10 Previously adapting other courageous sea rescues--A Storm Too Soon (2016), Into the Blizzard (2019), and so on, Tougias, along with Stanton, the author of the original New York Times best-seller, team up for this young readers edition. Together they offer a riveting account of WWII's USS Indianapolis. After delivering parts of the Little Boy nuclear bomb in a top-secret trip, the U.S. Navy cruiser was headed for training duty when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the South Pacific. The authors set up the story with background about the ship, its crew, and withheld information about Japanese subs in surrounding waters. The bulk of the book, however, focuses on the horrific aftermath of the sinking through the perspectives of a few key heroic crew members. Vivid, gruesome details recount the explosion itself and ensuing fire as well as the nearly four days survivors floated at sea, dying minute by minute from dehydration, exhaustion, and shark attacks, before being rescued. The final section looks at contributing errors and the captain's court martial and later exoneration. An enthralling tale of survival.

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April 15, 2022
A nail-biting account of World War II heroism and survival. In the summer of 1945, veteran Navy captain Charles McVay undertook a secret mission on the USS Indianapolis. With more than 1,000 inexperienced sailors aboard, the cruiser headed for the island of Tinian, near Guam, delivering parts of the atomic bomb destined to end the war. But with no sonar, the ship's ability to elude attacks was compromised, and a Japanese submarine torpedoed the Indy, triggering a deadly fire. The men were forced to abandon ship, and most found themselves in one of two groups--one led by clergyman Father Conway and physician Dr. Haynes, the other by Ensign Harlan Twible and Chief Engineer Richard Redmayne. McVay was in a separate small group with eight other crew members. There was a scramble for rafts and danger from shark attacks; the men battled hunger, thirst, exposure to the tropical sun, and extreme cold at night. Many perished. Stanton and Tougias keep the suspense high with short sections that cut from one embattled group to another. Rescue eventually came but not without glitches, and McVay faced a different fight for survival back home--court-martialed and later dying by suicide. This is a riveting, well-researched young readers' adaptation of Stanton's 2001 original. Authentic detail and a brisk pace make this real-life adventure a page-turner. (map, note by Stanton, glossary, books by Tougias, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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April 9, 2001
Given the stringent precision of the U.S. Navy and military during wartime, how could a WWII battleship carrying over 1,000 men be torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sink, leaving the survivors to bob in the Pacific Ocean at the mercy of elements and predators, without anyone realizing the loss for more than four days? Stanton not only offers a well-researched chronicle of what is widely regarded as the worst naval disaster in U.S. history, but also vividly renders the combatants' hellish ordeal during the sinking, and the ensuing days at sea as well as attempts to cope with the traumatic aftermath. Stanton documents the facts of the case, embellishing his story with lurid details gleaned from interviews with survivors. Though the ship's captain would become the first and only in U.S. naval history to be court-martialed for the loss of his ship, Stanton offers a solid body of evidence to justify the survivors' partially successful efforts to exonerate him. Stanton's omniscient narrative shifts among the individual perspectives of several principal characters, a successful technique that contributes to the book's absorbing, novelistic feel. Readers, of course, must trust Stanton and his research in order to be truly consumed, but the authority of his voice should win over all but the most obsessive skeptics. Illuminating and emotional without being maudlin, Stanton's book helps explain what many have long considered an inexplicable catastrophe. (May 21)Forecast:Following on the heels of the bestselling
Abandon Ship, recently resurrected by Peter Maas, this book is unlikely to be ignored. A $150,000 marketing campaign includes a nine-city author tour, national print advertising, and target marketing to the military and naval market.