Lost in the Pacific, 1942 MP3 CD – Unabridged, March 14, 2017

World War II is a topic of perennial interest to me as are survival stories. This book happens to be both. This is the story of a group of U.S. soldiers on assignment to deliver a special passenger to the Pacific theater. While everything started normally, several things happened that lead to the crew and plane getting lost over the Pacific. They did everything in their power to find the island they were supposed to land on, but despite contact with the island and numerous efforts to discover their location, the plane eventually ran out of fuel and had to be set down on the ocean. Preparations for ditching the plane had been made, but in the rush to get out of the plane, most supplies, including all available drinking water and extra food were left behind on the plane. Using photographs, quotes, and first hand accounts, the author takes the reader on a remarkable journey with the eight individuals who suffered on the ocean on tiny rafts for three weeks. I appreciated the compelling story, but also the author's honesty. As the circumstances worsened, the eight men did not get along which is not surprising considering the stress of the situation. And even when they (all but one) survived they didn't all of a sudden have a close bond with each other. Unfortunately, the special passenger was famous, but not known for his tact or kindness. Eddie Rickenbacker rather bullied the others into surviving. Was that the best method? I can't say, I wasn't there, but it's something to think about and it's something that the author brings up in his author's note at the end of the book.. I really appreciated the author's note because Olson explains the problems with writing accounts of historical events based on the flawed memories of participants. This would be a great thing to share with students when discussing writing nonfiction. Overall,, Olson has created a very readable, compelling account of a little known event. He also does a nice job of placing the event in context of the numbers of men dying in the war at the time.

This is the older kids version of I Survived books. When a plane goes down the survivors must come together and survive extreme circumstances. It has a lot of suspense and moments that you want to keep reading. My son really enjoyed reading this story, after the initial 20 pages of introductions. I would recommend this book to kids who like survival books.

I teach reading so I ordered a classroom set for my classes. Even though many of my students are reluctant readers, they loved it! I did too especially since this nonfiction book deals with history and is so well written. The author portrayed the situation and characters so well that my kiddos came to class anxious to read the next installment in this story. It was so well received that the other reading teacher in my building also purchased a set of books. Win win!

This was summer required reading for my rising middle schooler so I purchased the ebook for my kindle. Having lived in Columbus Ohio for several years I had heard of Rickenbacker, but never his full story. This book filled in some blanks, and introduced me to his fellow castaways. I've never been enamored with war, but now will read more. I guess I also benefited from the required summer reading list

I received from Amazon fairly quickly. This book is probably better suited for a teenage reader, but is excellent never the less. It gives some interesting information about what James C. Whittaker and Johnny Bartek went through. It is also very fair and honest about Eddie Rickenbacher and the problems he caused on the rafts.

Got this for my 11 year old son for middle school reading and he loved it. So much he has moved to the next book Lost in Space.

My 11 year old son loved this book! He did his 5th grade book presentation on it. He told me all about it. It's a survivalist book and it's not too graphic. It's perfect for his age. It is a book about survival, so the book contains things that could be considered gross, unfortunate, sad, etc.

It's the kind of story you don't want to put down. It makes you feel like you are on the raft with them. We recommend it for anyone who likes a good action packed book. We learned more about the war and could imagine what it was like.

This book was absolute thriller. There were also places where the crew had to encounter problems and sharks.They also did not want to meet the Japanese navy.This was a great and epic book according to me.I recommend it to everyone.By:Arav AgarwalGrade 6

The book is excellent. The will to survive the vast Pacific,to mke it out alive. It is actually a wonderful real life survival story.by,Aditya Pratap Singh PhogatFaridabadHaryana

Amazing read.

Book was ok.

Nice product