Heroes Don't Run

by Harry Mazer

      Adam Pelko's father was killed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked the Hawaian naval base in December of 1941.  He's been aching to join the marines ever since, so he can fight for his country and avenge his father's death.  In 1944, the summer before his senior year in high school, he talks his mother into letting him visit his grandfather who lives across country, because he knows his grandfather will allow him to enlist in the Marines even though he is still under age.  Adam has a pretty unrealistic view of what fighting in the war will be like, and can't even imagine not coming back.  During boot camp, he gets a small taste of army discipline, but it's not until he lands on Okinawa that he finally fully understands the terror and crushing heartbreak of war.  Heroes Don't Run is a realistic historical novel of the Pacific during World War II, and Adam Pelko is a character most teens can identify with.  Chosen by the Greater Waco Chamber for its One Book One Waco community read this fall, Heroes Don't Run is a timely and appealing story.   --reviewed by Mrs. Sams