Greg M. Romaneck (Children's Literature)
At age nineteen, Henry Forester is the youngest pilot in his B-24 bomber squadron. Henry and his fellow crew members are sent on a series of dangerous bombing missions over France and Germany. On one such mission Henry's bomber is shot out of the sky. Faced with the frightening reality of being downed behind enemy lines, Henry makes his way toward freedom with the assistance of the French underground. Wounded, hungry, lost and afraid, Henry sees the effects war has on the human spirit. The people who both help and hunt him show themselves to be anything but cardboard cutout characters. Henry experiences relationships with protectors whom he comes to cherish and others who repel him. War, in Henry's eyes, brings out both the worst and the best in people. Through Henry's perspective, we see the physically and spiritually war-torn landscape of World War II Europe. Told as a fictional rendering of the experiences of the author's father, this is a powerful debut novel. Readers should be prepared for realistic scenes portraying the violence of war; but is that not preferable to sugar coating mankind's most destructive actions? Plotted in a fast-paced manner, this is a believable story of adventure and salvation. Readers, young and old, will be touched and moved by this fine book. 2001, Hyperion, $15.99. Ages 12 up.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, January 2002 (Vol. 55, No. 5))
Inspired by her father’s experiences in World War II, Elliott tells the story of nineteen-year-old Henry Forester, pilot in the U.S Air Force. Shot down over enemy territory, Henry finds himself in Alsace, where an elderly schoolteacher risks his life to take Henry to a Swiss hospital. On the way to an internment camp for Allied soldiers (Switzerland was neutral, and so any soldiers found within her borders were interned for the duration of the war), Henry escapes and begins to make his way back to England with the help of the underground. His journey is rife with adventure: he is betrayed to and taken prisoner by the Nazis, he escapes to join the resistance fighters, he is recaptured by the retreating Germans, and he’s freed due to the conscience of an old German soldier. Ultimately Henry arrives home on Thanksgiving Day, to the great joy of his mom, his dad, and his girl. The elements of this complex plot are not always gracefully handled, and the exposition is sometimes clumsy. The action scenes keep the pages turning, though, and Henry’s travels across war-torn Europe have a momentum that gives the novel a cinematic quality. Some introspection regarding the meaning of life, the horrors of war, and the longing for home adds emotional substrata to the action that keep this from being a gung-ho war story. Henry’s internal dialogues with his father are an effective means of keeping the homefront present, even though the reader never goes there until the predictable but satisfying end. Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2002, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2001, Hyperion, 284p, $15.99 and $16.49. Grades 7-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2002)
When his plane is shot down behind enemy lines, nineteen-year-old Henry, an American pilot, fights hunger, injuries, and Nazi soldiers as he works his way to freedom. References to Henry’s life back home fail to hold the story together as intended, but the short episodic adventures in each chapter are exciting. Category: Older Fiction. 2001, Hyperion, 284pp, $15.99, $16.49. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 4: Recommended, with minor flaws.

Kendall Diane Brothers (VOYA, December 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 5))
Henry Forester, an American pilot fighting Hitler's Luftwaffe, is shot down behind enemy lines. While hospitalized, facing the prospect of spending the rest of the war in a POW camp, he is approached by someone offering to help him escape and return to duty. Henry accepts the offer, and what follows is his adventure across occupied France as he is aided by the French Resistance. His helpers include peasants who share their food and home, priests, a teenage Louis Armstrong fan, and a wealthy aristocrat. Well written, the book gets off to an exciting start with Henry's doomed mission and his close escape from a transport train crowded with German soldiers. The enigmatic Madame Gaulloise, an aristocrat and spy, adds a human touch. The story starts to drag about three-quarters of the way through with what seems like one adventure too many. Henry is captured by Germans and then taken out to be shot. The next chapter takes place months later, with Henry returning home. We learn how Henry escaped through his memories, but it was almost as though Elliott suddenly felt that the book was too long and needed to be cut short. Overall though, this exciting, well-researched work of historical fiction will appeal particularly to boys and is recommended for all libraries. PLB $16.49. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2001, Hyperion/Disney, 284p, $15.99. Ages 11 to 15.