D-Day The Invasion of Normandy, 1944 by Rick Atkinson - ADVISABLE

Atkinson, Rick D-Day The Invasion of Normandy, 1944, 202 pages. NON FICTION, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2014. Language: R (19 swears 15 ‘f’) Mature Content: PG13 (smoking, drinking, one reference to “naked” ) Violence: R (Graphic war descriptions and pictures)

General Eisenhower has made the decision to attack Normandy Beach in France. With his allies Britain and Canada, he decides to plan out an attack. They decide to split the beach up into five parts, Juno, Gold, Sword, Utah, and Omaha, sending troops to each of the five beaches. They also decide to send in airborne divisions from the south side of the beach. A couple of hours into the fight it is not looking good, the airborne divisions and paratroopers had not succeeded and the ground troops were getting blown to pieces with artillery. If they lose this battle then they lose the whole war. 

I really liked the description the author is able to provide about the planning of the invasion, what was going through the minds of the generals, and what things the generals consider. I did not like how many pages the author reserved for the air attack. A lot of the invasion section was focused on air and I did not really enjoy that. I would have rather had it be more about the ground troops. 

HS - ADVISABLE 7th Grade Student Reviewer ES