About this item
A 2014 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist"An exceptionally well-researched, lovingly crafted, and important tribute to unsung American heroes." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 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, discrimination against African Americans plays out as much on Main Street as in the military. Tanya Lee Stone examines the little-known history of the Triple Nickles, America's first black paratroopers, who fought in an attack on the American West by the Japanese. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, in the words of First Sergeant Walter Morris, "proved that the color of a man had nothing to do with his ability.
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.
