On December 7, 1941, Dorinda and her family were living in Pearl City, on a small peninsula that extends into the center of Pearl Harbor. That Sunday morning, most of the American Pacific fleet was peacefully anchored only a few hundred yards from her front door. The waves of attacking Japanese planes flew over her home so low that she could see the faces and goggles of the pilots. Today, she treasures an incendiary bullet, the only one remaining of the many that her father dug out of their burned kitchen wall.
In Pearl Harbor Child, Dorinda Nicholson tells her personal account of the Japanese attack and the events that followed, including blackouts, rationing, air raid drills, victory gardens, war bonds, censorship, gas masks and much more. While there are many books about the Pearl Harbor attack, Pearl Harbor Child is the only one that tells the story from a civilian point of view, written by a woman, through the eyes of a child.
The book is a child's story, but not just for children. It is a voice from World War II that has not been heard before. The voice is that of an American child who tells what she saw, how it felt, what happened on that day and through the balance of what became World War II. The book was authenticated and originally published by the Arizona Memorial Museum Association. The newly revised edition contains more than 100 photographs, plus a two-page map that pinpoints major events.
