HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: The Call
Author: Paul Boyce
Cover Designer: Dante Rey Redido
Publisher: Tate Publishing and Enterprises LLC, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1683337492
ISBN-10: 1683337492
Related website: https://buypaulboycebooks.com/ (author)
Language level: 1
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing and/or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing and/or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Recommended reading level: Ages 13 and up
Rating: ***** 5 stars (EXCELLENT)
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
Disclosure: Many publishers and/or authors provide free copies of their books in exchange for an honest review without requiring a positive opinion. Any books donated to Home School Book Review for review purposes are in turn donated to a library. No other compensation has been received for the reviews posted on Home School Book Review.
For more information e-mail homeschoolbookreview@gmail.com
Boyce, Paul. The Call (published in 2016 by Tate Publishing and Enterprises LLC, 127 E. Trade Center Terrace, Mustang, OK 73064). It is February of 1943. The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor a little over a year before, thus drawing the United States into World War II. P. R. “Dick” Steinke is a sixteen going on seventeen year old farm boy from Pennsylvania who enlists in the Navy. He hasn’t even started shaving yet. After his induction, training, and other preparation, he is assigned to serve on the U.S.S. Langley, a lightweight carrier, during the famous Pacific Island Hopping campaign from January of 1944 through May of 1945, and sees action in the battles of the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, the Formosa Straits, and Okinawa, going through the terrible Halsey’s Typhoon Cobra along the way. What happens to Dick and his comrades, so many of whom are the same age as he is?
Dick tells his own story in the first person, but the book itself was written by his nephew, prolific novelist Paul Boyce, who is also the author of the “Hooks Files” series of detective fiction for young people. In The Call, the reader will see, firsthand, the human side of war and be captivated by the courage and resolve of the young people who rose to its challenge, with a glimpse into the strategy and tactics behind the Pacific campaign, the attacks and counterattacks, the successes and disappointments, the joy, the despair, the peril, and in the end, the victory. As in his other works, Boyce takes a wholesome approach to his storytelling that results in a narrative that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages, from teen to adult. Anyone who is interested in stories about World War II will find this book fascinating.
homeschoolbookreviewblog 