3.5 Stars ( )

Describes the global collaboration to save a boys’ soccer team trapped in a network of caves in Thailand after rainstorms flooded the caves. Also describes cave diving and the essential skills required to be a diver and how the divers and their experience were key to the boys’ successful rescue. Beyond a rescue story, it is also an introduction to cave diving, an extreme sport of rarefied athletes. Several of the black and white photos were unfortunately indistinct/dark in appearance, hard to make out objects/context. Front matter includes a useful list of people involved, from the soccer teammates to divers from different countries, Thai SEALs, and Thai government officials. Back matter includes author’s description of research process for the book, citations, further info, and index. About three maps throughout to illustrate the layout of the cave and path divers needed to take. ( )

The difficulties, tension, hope and fears of what happened at the Thai Caves comes to life along with many details and explanations of what the rescuers and boys truly faced.

The Thai Cave rescue of the boy's soccer team brought the world together as they not only followed the rescue attempts through the media, but many flew in to offer their support and real help. The background of the caves and the boys offers insight and understanding as to their original adventure, while many more explanation help the reader to understand how the accident occurred, and even more so, what trails the rescuers faced and how they overcame these.

The author's thorough and care in research shines through these pages as he hits various angles and aspects surrounding this well-known event. It begins with background information about the caves themselves, which clarifies why the team was in the caves. Then, a brief but clear summary is given of each boy as well as a more detailed explanation about the soccer team and it's coach. This part alone offered interesting insight and is sure to connect young readers with the boys. But then, with every dip into information, the author grounds the happenings into real life and makes it clear how intense the situation was—and how normal these kids were.

Young readers as well as adults will be pulled into this book, thanks not only to the information but also to the moments of well laid and real tension. While some moments read like a story, most pages come across like a newspaper/magazine article. A lot of this has to do to the speed with which it was written. The author admits to having to complete the book in a tight time crunch. Unfortunately, this shows. While the information is extremely well done and very interesting, it sometimes comes across a bit pasted together. Some areas gained quite a bit of depth in explanation, while others were mentioned and almost forgotten. The writing itself illustrated this too, as some passages contain a fairly high vocabulary, where others fall back and explain or speak down to the reader (in comparison).

Despite these problems, the book is very interesting and will pull readers in. The care in the research does come across well, and readers will learn quite a bit while staying engaged in the situation. In other words, I can recommend this to upper middle graders and tweens.

I received a complimentary copy and did enjoy reading it, while learning quite a bit on the way. ( )