I picked up these two books by Bill Doyle for the students in my classes.  I know have readers who are looking for something short and quick to read.  Many of those same readers are fascinated by war, danger, and adventure.  I expect these books in the Behind Enemy Lines series will be a hit with them.  What I didn’t expect was these books to be such a hit with me, but I found them hard to put down.  I came away amazed and inspired by the courage shown by each soldier, sailor, or airman featured.

Behind Enemy Lines:  True Stories of Amazing Courage (Scholastic 2009)

These stories highlight deeds of derring-d0 from wars throughout our history, from Nathan Hale in the American Revolution to Green Berets in the Iraq War.  One of my favorites is the story of Emma Edmonds, who pretended to be Private Frank Thompson in the Civil War.  Not only did she pull of her disguise as a man in the Union army, but she also created multiple other disguises in her work as a Union spy.  I had also never hear of Moe Berg, a Major League Baseball player, who used his talent for learning languages as a spy during World War II.  There are eight inspiring stories in this collection, each one more exciting than the one before.

Behind Enemy Lines: Under Fire in the Middle East (Scholastic 2011)

These stories focus on more recent conflicts in Iraq (both Desert Storm and more recently) Pakistan, and Afghanistan.  In addition to the courageous acts of military personnel in these wars, “Caught in the Crossfire” illustrates the devastation that war creates for civilians.  A group of orphans, including two brothers, must flee across the war-torn country to escape the fighting that has taken their parents.  “Duke’s Dogs” highlights the lifesaving actions of a trio of strays that accompanied one platoon in Iraq.  Again and again, the men and women in these true stories (some names and details were changed to protect those involved) show courage under fire and sometimes receive help from unexpected places.