Recommended by a Thayer 7th Grader in 2021

Recommended by a Thayer 8th Grader in 2023

Alan Gratz is the author of...

• Projekt 1065, which was also recommended by Thayer students

• Prisoner B-3087, which was also recommended by Thayer students

• Code of Honor, which was also recommended by Thayer students

• Allies, which was also recommended by Thayer students

• Refugee, which was also recommended by Thayer students

• Ground Zero, which was also recommended by Thayer students

• Two Degrees, which was also recommended by Thayer students

• Heroes, which was also recommended by Thayer students

Synopsis, via Amazon: 

"It's 1945, and the world is in the grip of war. Hideki lives with his family on the island of Okinawa, near Japan. When WWII crashes onto his shores, Hideki is drafted into the Blood and Iron Student Corps to fight for the Japanese army. He is handed a grenade and a set of instructions: Don't come back until you've killed an American soldier. Ray, a young American Marine, has just landed on Okinawa. This is Ray's first-ever battle, and he doesn't know what to expect -- or if he'll make it out alive. He just knows that the enemy is everywhere. Hideki and Ray each fight their way across the island, surviving heart-pounding ambushes and dangerous traps. But then the two of them collide in the middle of the battle... And choices they make in that single instant will change everything. Alan Gratz, New York Times bestselling author of Refugee, returns with this high-octane story of how fear and war tear us apart, but how hope and redemption tie us together."