About this item
NAACP Image AwardA 2014 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction FinalistThey became Americas first black paratroopers. Why was their story never told? Sibert Medalist Tanya Lee Stone reveals the history of the Triple Nickles during World War II.World War II is raging, and thousands of American soldiers are fighting overseas against the injustices brought on by Hitler. Back on the home front, the injustice of discrimination against African Americans plays out as much on Main Street as in the military. Enlisted black men are segregated from white soldiers and regularly relegated to service duties. At Fort Benning, Georgia, First Sergeant Walter Morriss men serve as guards at The Parachute School, while the white soldiers prepare to be paratroopers. Morris knows that for his men to be treated like soldiers, they have to train and act like them, but would the military elite and politicians recognize the potential of these men as well as their passion for serving their country? Tanya Lee Stone examines the role of African Americans in the military through the history of the Triple Nickles, Americas first black paratroopers, who fought in a little-known attack on the American West by the Japanese. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, in the words of Morris, "proved that the color of a man had nothing to do with his ability."From Courage Has No ColorWhat did it take to be a paratrooper in World War II? Specialized training, extreme physical fitness, courage, and -- until the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (the Triple Nickles) was formed -- white skin.It is 1943. Americans are overseas fighting World War II to help keep the world safe from Adolf Hitlers tyranny, safe from injustice, safe from discrimination. Yet right here at home, people with white skin have rights that people with black skin do not.What is courage? What is strength? Perhaps it is being ready to fight for your nation even when your nation isnt ready to fight for you.
About the Author
Tanya Lee Stone is an award-winning author of books for kids and teens. Stone went to performing arts high school in New Haven, CT and went on to major in English at Oberlin College (and study Voice at Oberlin Conservatory) . After graduation she moved to New York and became an editor. Stone was an editor for more than a dozen years and has a Masters Degree in Science Education. She teaches Writing for Children at Champlain College.After moving to Vermont, Stone became a full-time writer and has published more than 100 books for young readers. She writes picture books, nonfiction, and Young Adult fiction. Her newest nonfiction books have garnered major awards. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream (Candlewick 09) , received a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, Jane Addams Honor, YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, Orbis Pictus Honor, and was awarded ALA's Sibert Medal for the best nonfiction book for young readers of 2010. The Good the Bad, and the Barbie won SCBWI's Golden Kite Award for the best nonfiction book of the year for 2011. Courage Has No Color won the prestigious NAACP Image Award.Her Young Adult novel, A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl (Wendy Lamb/Random House) was #6 on the Top 10 Banned Books list, and won an IRA Young Adult Choice, an ALA Quick Picks, an NYPL Book for the Teen Age, and SLJ Book of the Month. Her nonfiction picture books have also received many starred reviews as well as state and national awards. Titles include Elizabeth Leads the Way, Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder, Who Says Women Can't Be Doctors? , The House That Jane Built, Who Says Women Can't Be Computer Programmers? and Do Not Collect $200.
