The Grand Escape by Neal Bascomb - ADVISABLE

The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20^th Century by Neal Bascomb, 288 pages.  NON-FICTION  Scholastic, 2018.  $19.  

Content: Language: (3 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG-13.  

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ADVISABLE  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

During World War I, captured allied forces were kept in POW camps throughout Germany.  Those who were captured felt it was their responsibility to escape and rejoin the effort, but the men’s attempts to escape were often foiled.  When prisoners were caught, they were sent to a camp called Holzminden which was run by a mean commandant named Neimeyer.  This book follows different prisoners and how they ended up at Holzminden and then details their combined effort to attempt their escape.  

What a great read.  The men who escaped Holzminden were easy to cheer for as they made brave attempts to escape.  I enjoyed the information at the beginning of the book that explains the “Rules of War” and how POW’s were supposed to be treated as well as the ending of the book that explained how this escape was used as an example to other soldiers, so during World War II, more prisoners were able to escape.  There pictures throughout that enhanced the story.  The violence is there are soldiers who were murdered or shot and the abuses in the POW camp, nothing too graphic, but still upsetting.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson.