D-Day: A Day That Changed America: They Fought to Free Europe from Hitler's Tyranny [Hardcover]

Shelley Tanaka (Author), David Craig (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2004 | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Day That Changed America

It was the greatest invasion the world had ever seen. Officially known as "Operation Overlord," this World War II assault began on the morning of June 6, 1944. Thousands of American, British, and Canadian soldiers aboard hundreds of landing craft attacked beaches along nearly fifty miles of France's coastline in Normandy. Backing them up were the big guns of some of the mightiest ships in the Allied navies, and countless bomber, fighter, and transport aircraft. By the end of that day, an Allied army had made it ashore despite sometimes fierce opposition, signaling the end of Nazi tyranny over Europe. Using the real-life stories of young men caught up in this great event, along with original paintings, photographs, and memorabilia, D-Day, the book, will present a compelling account of this world-changing day. Shelly Tanaka is the author of many acclaimed books of nonfiction for children, including the first two books in The Day That Changed America Series: Gettysburg and The Alamo. She is also the author of Attack on Pearl Harbor and many of the books in the "I Was There" series.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7–Attractively designed with vintage photos and colorful, action paintings, this book tells the stories of four American servicemen and their experiences on D-Day. A brief general history of the invasion is woven around them. Unfortunately, the text is plagued by sentence fragments, descriptions that do not match the photos, and references to the U.S. Air Force that are inaccurate for the period. In addition, some statements are so simplistic that they are next to meaningless, while others are so wordy that their meanings are unclear ("skies too windy"). Ronald J. Drez's Remember D-Day (National Geographic, 2004) is a far better choice.–Eldon Younce, Harper Elementary School, KS
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. Tanaka spins paraphrased reminiscences of four American military survivors (plus one's fiancee, back in the U.S.), into an episodic account of what she bills as "the biggest invasion in the history of warfare." Although she does provide occasional glimpses of the broader strategic picture, her focus is more on close-ups of the battle from the points of view of a paratrooper, a P-47 pilot, a landing craft crew member, and a combat medic. Craig supplies full-page, occasionally gory, paintings of GIs in battle, to which have been added a heavy admixture of period photos, capped by a view of ranked grave markers at the American Normandy Cemetery near Omaha Beach. Tanaka's argument that D-Day "changed America" isn't very persuasive, but she leaves readers with a clear understanding of the scope of the event--and its cost. Book and Web-site lists conclude. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (May 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786818816
• ISBN-13: 978-0786818815
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,046,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The story of D-Day told from the perspective of 4 servicemen, September 10, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: D-Day: A Day That Changed America: They Fought to Free Europe from Hitler's Tyranny (Hardcover)

If the first twenty minutes of Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" gives young students a graphic understanding of what it was like to storm the beaches at Normandy on June 6, 1944, then "D-Day: A Day That Changed America" will put the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe in perspective. After all, the sub-title of Shelley Tanaka's book is "They Fought to Free Europe from Hitler's Tyranny." Consequently, this illustrated volume, with paintings by David Craig, both explains why this was the turning point of World War II in Europe and how the small parts of the invasion that readers might have seen in "Saving Private Ryan" or "Band of Brothers" fit into the big picture on D-Day (if you want the cinematic equivalent of what this book is trying to do then check out "The Longest Day," even though it is in black & white).

Tanaka tells the story of D-Day from the perspective of four eyewitnesses who survived the invasion: paratrooper Don Jakeway, fighter pilot Quentin Aanenson, seaman Bob Giguere, and combat medic Jack Fox. The order that we meet these four American soldiers allows the invasion to proceed chronologically. Young readers should appreciate the personal perspective of the story, which allows Tanaka to talk about what was happening with the entire invasion while also providing the intimate memories of her four soldiers, who were all in their eighties when they shared their stories. She makes it clear that not only was America changed by D-Day, but so where these four men. In addition to Craig's detailed paintings the text is complemented by historic photographs, pictorial maps, diagrams, and D-Day artifacts. There are also informative sidebars and features on topics like what the "D" in "D-Day" stands for and how the Allies fooled the enemy before and during the invasion. The result is a solid enough juvenile history of D-Day to provide young readers with a basic understanding of the invasion to build upon when they move on to more advanced works.

When I looked at the cover of this juvenile history of the Normandy Invasion I immediately agreed with the idea of this series and this particular example as "A Day That Changed America." After all, today is the third anniversary of 9/11 and the attack on the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon. There was a good indication of how much that particular day changed America in a new poll that reports over 70% of Americans believe the war against terrorism will never end. However, as much as those two days clearly fit the bill I have to say that the other volumes in the series are not as on point. After all, "Gettysburg" was a three-day battle, although Pickett's Charge on the third day is certainly considered the high-water mark of the Confederacy, "The Alamo" was a thirteen day siege and it was the Battle of San Jancinto that won Texas independence while having nothing to do with the United States until the republic was annexed, and the San Francisco "Earthquake!" did not really change much outside of the Bay Area in California. My point is that recognizing days in American history that truly changed the nation is a worthy effort and attention must be paid to what does and does not fit the bill.