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Unbroken: An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive. The Young Adult Adaptation
Author:
Hillenbrand, Laura
Biographee:
Zamperini, Louis
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Class:
Biography
Age: 12-19
Language: English
Descriptors: Adapted
Demand: Moderate
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LC: D805.J3
Grade: 7-12
Print Run: 200000
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ISBN-13: 9780385742511
LCCN: 2014014794
Imprint: Delacorte Press
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Pub Date: 11/11/2014
Availability: Available
List: $21.99
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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307 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
H 9.31",
W 7.38",
D 1.01",
1.3 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Children and Teen Nonfiction Picks
Brodart's For Youth Interest: Popular
Brodart's Insight Catalog: Teen
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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New York Times Bestsellers List
New York Times Bestsellers: Children's Middle Grade and Young Adult Books
Senior High Core Collection, 20th ed.
Senior High Core Collection, 21st ed.
Senior High Core Collection, 22nd ed.
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Awards:
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Booklist Starred Reviews
Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1 - 4
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
VOYA's 5Q Picks
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Starred Reviews:
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Booklist
~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal)
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TIPS Subjects:
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Aviation/Aeronautics
Military Science
Biography, Individual
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BISAC Subjects: |
YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION / Biography & Autobiography / Historical
YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION / History / Military & Wars
YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION / Sports & Recreation / Olympics & Paralympics
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LC Subjects:
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Long-distance runners, United States, Biography
Long-distance runners, United States, Biography, Juvenile literature
Olympic athletes, United States, Biography
Olympic athletes, United States, Biography, Juvenile literature
Prisoners of war, Japan, Biography
Prisoners of war, Japan, Biography, Juvenile literature
Prisoners of war, United States, Biography
Prisoners of war, United States, Biography, Juvenile literature
World War, 1939-1945, Aerial operations, American
World War, 1939-1945, Aerial operations, American, Juvenile literature
World War, 1939-1945, Aerial operations, United States
World War, 1939-1945, Prisoners and prisons, Japanese
World War, 1939-1945, Prisoners and prisons, Japanese, Juvenile literature
Zamperini, Louis,, 1917-2014
Zamperini, Louis,, 1917-2014, Juvenile literature
Zamperini, Louis,, 1917-2014., Juvenile literature
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SEARS Subjects: |
Marathon running, Biography
Olympic games, Biography
World War, 1939-1945, Prisoners and prisons, Japan
Zamperini, Louis,, 1917-2014
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Reading Programs: |
Accelerated Reader Level:
6.4
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Points: 10.0
Lexile Level:
850
Reading Counts Level:
6.5
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Points: 16.0
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles | 10/01/2014 |
| War forever changes a determined athlete's life in this young adult adaptation. Born in the 1920s, Louie was energetic and defiant. From the age of two he was a runner, so it was understandable when his older brother channeled Louie's energy onto the track. Soon he was breaking records and competing on the Olympic level. Then WWII interrupted his life. This is his story of survival, resilience, and redemption. 320pp., B/W Photos |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Booklist | 09/01/2014 |
| Grades 8-12. Growing up in Torrance, California, Louis Zamperini was a wild boy, a rebel who found redemption in running, ultimately competing in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Then, in 1941, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a bombardier, whose plane was shot down over the Pacific. Thus began a remarkable story of survival. For 47 days, he floated on a raft with scant food and water, surrounded by sharks. Finally, he was picked up by Japanese forces and made a prisoner of war. He was routinely and savagely beaten and humiliated by a sadistic guard the other prisoners nicknamed the Bird. Not released until the end of the war, Zamperini returned to the States. There, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and began drinking heavily, until, while attending a Billy Graham crusade, he stopped drinking and began to find peace. This adaptation of Hillenbrand's adult best-seller is highly dramatic and exciting, as well as painful to read as it lays bare man's hellish inhumanity to man. It is inspirational, too, for despite violence, torture, and humiliation, Zamperini never lost his human dignity--a necessity, Hillenbrand graphically demonstrates, for survival. Heavily illustrated with black-and-white photographs, this is sure to attract a wide audience, not only of survival story fans but also of those looking for a story of one man's heroic triumph over all odds. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With a film adaptation scheduled for December 2014 and a crossover teen audience for the best-selling adult account, this youth edition should have a wide audience. Cart, Michael. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2014. |
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| ~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal) | 12/01/2014 |
| 5Q 3P J S. A teller of tall tales could not improve the true story of Louis Zamperini. His odyssey takes him from quick-footed neighborhood thief in the Roaring Twenties to Olympic athlete in 1936, to forty-seven days aboard a life raft, to the brutality of more than two years as a Japanese prisoner of war (POW) during World War II. After the war, he marries, but it is not a "Greatest Generation" success story, at least not in the beginning. Suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and finding solace in alcohol, he winds up at a Billy Graham revival, where an equally grueling process of redemption begins. Hillenbrand's young adult version of her award-winning adult title has shed nearly eighty pages but remains true to Louie's story and its major subplots. She has judiciously removed some of the starkest horrors and sexual brutality of the Japanese POW camps, though enough remains for readers to glimpse the misery. With its breakneck pace and lean style, some adults may actually find this version more engaging. The teen revision arrives at an auspicious time. Zamperini died in July at age 97, and his inspiring story will be the subject of a film scheduled for release in December 2014. Get this one for teens who love war stories or great nonfiction. Get two copies--pass the second along to adult readers interested in the details of Louie's story. Discussion materials with film tie-ins will be available for both texts. It is a strong contender for community reading initiatives across age groups.--Donna L. Phillips. 320p. VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, c2014. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| Horn Book | 11/01/2014 |
| Middle School, High School. With media attention focused on the July 2014 death of Louis Zamperini, and Angelina Jolie's upcoming movie detailing his WWII experiences, this adaptation of Hillenbrand's best-selling Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption puts the Zamperini story in the hands of many teens not ready or willing to tackle the adult version. Constantly in and out of scrapes as a child, Zamperini appeared to be heading for a life of crime. But Louis traded delinquency for adulation. He became a competitive runner, and gutsy performances earned him a slot on the 1938 Olympic track team. With the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Air Corps, surviving a plane crash and forty-seven days adrift on a raft only to be captured and interred in various Japanese POW camps until war's end. He returned to California alive but emotionally scarred; after battling alcoholism, he became a Christian crusader. This adaptation eliminates much of the original detail, particularly concerning Zamperini's survival at sea and his time as a POW, and Zamperini's eventual redemption receives fewer edits than other portions of the text -- and thus its impact is more prominent than in the original. But the tension built by his oceanic ordeal and by the unrelenting torture during his years in captivity never wavers, creating a humdinger of a page-turner: a noble story about the courage of America's Greatest Generation, personified. An author interview with Zamperini and (unseen) notes and index are appended. betty carter. 292pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2014. |
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| Horn Book Guide | 05/01/2015 |
| 2. YA. This adaptation of Hillenbrand's best-selling adult version puts the Louis Zamperini story in teens' hands. Zamperini traded delinquency for adulation, becoming a runner on the 1938 Olympic track team; in WWII he survived a plane crash only to be captured as a POW; after battling alcoholism, he became a Christian crusader. The tension never wavers, creating a humdinger of a page-turner. Ind. Review 11/14. bc. 292pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2015. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 09/15/2014 |
| In response to requests from teachers and school librarians, Hillenbrand offers a young-readers' edition of her best-selling World War II tale of survival. Louis Zamperini grew up in California and was headed toward juvenile delinquency. He smoked at 5, drank at 8, and went on to stealing and pranking, until older brother Pete got Louis into something more productive: running. Louis eventually became a world-class runner, ultimately competing at the 1936 Olympics. With World War II looming, Louis joined the Army Air Corps, and it was with the downing of his B-24 bomber that his harrowing journey began. Adrift in the Pacific Ocean in a raft, attacked by sharks, brutalized as a POW in Japanese slave-labor camps, Louis' is a tale of survival against all odds. This solid adaptation is half the length of the original, more visual (with more, and sometimes larger, photographs), less descriptive and swifter paced, and it avoids such adult themes as the sexual sadism of evil Cpl. Watanabe, the man so intent on destroying Louis in the POW camp outside Tokyo. A fascinating appended interview with Louis Zamperini explores issues of survival and heroism. This fine adaptation ably brings an inspiring tale to younger readers. (notes, index [not seen]) (Nonfiction. 12 & up). 320pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2014. |
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| School Library Journal | 09/01/2014 |
| Gr 9 Up. Adapted from the best-selling adult book of the same name, this riveting account tells the story of Louis Zamperini, a thief turned track star, Olympian, airman, castaway, and prisoner of war. Born to Italian immigrants in 1917, Zamperini was heading down a path of crime (stealing, fighting) until his older brother Pete stepped in, encouraging him to join the track team. It wasn't long before Zamperini was winning every race, eventually going on to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The book details how the 1940 Olympics were canceled due to World War II and describes how Zamperini was drafted into the U.S. Air Force. Writing in a gripping, intense tone, Hillenbrand relates how tragedy struck when Zamperini's plane was shot down and he and two other men spent 47 days in a life boat in the Pacific Ocean, fighting sharks, starvation, and dehydration, before being captured by the Japanese navy as prisoners of war. More than 100 engaging photographs appear throughout. This captivating book emphasizes the importance of determination, the will to survive against impossible odds, and support from family and friends. This adaptation softens some of the harsh details of POW life found in the adult version and has shortened the book by about a third. Though this is a strong, well-written work, the adult version is accessible and engaging; students are better off sticking with the original. Stephanie Farnlacher, Trace Crossings Elementary School, Hoover, AL. 320p. SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2014. |
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9780385742511,dl.it[0].title
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