Lost in the Pacific, 1942: Not a Drop to Drink

November 1, 2016
Grades 5-8 This is the inspiring and nail-biting true account of eight men (the flight crew and two others), including WWI war hero Eddie Rickenbacker, who were lost at sea during WWII for three weeks after their plane crashed. The crew's assignment was to fly Rickenbacker on a secret mission into the war zone in the Pacific. Instead, they got lost and, low on fuel, were forced to ditch the plane into the ocean. Struggling to survive in enemy waters, they wrestled with hunger, sickness, death, despair, sharks, the turbulent sea, and one anotherespecially as Rickenbacker tried to bully the rest into not giving up. Although the book lacks a map or source notes, it contains photos, a glossary, and an author's note that explains the inclusion of reconstructed conversations, based on the published accounts of survivors. This short but intense story shows how disasters can bring out the best and worst in people as they deal heroically with hunger and thirst and the desperate will to survive.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)