Victor Dowd and the World War II Ghost Army by Enigma Alberti and Scott Wegener - OPTIONAL

Victor Dowd and the World War II Ghost Army by Enigma Albertiand Scott Wegener, 82 pages.  Workman Publishing, 2017.  $13.  

Content: Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.  

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS – OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL – AVERAGE  

Sergeant Victor Dowd helped lead a group of men, called the Ghost Army, throughout World War II as they set up fake armies to throw off the enemy.  Using blow-up tanks, props and sound effects they would set up close to the enemy’s lines and try to distract the enemy while the real army moved into better position to surprise the enemy.  Dowd and his men would attract enemy fire, even though the army wasn’t equipped with real guns and their strategies worked to help win the war.  

This is such a fascinating unknown facet of World War II history.  I loved the illustrations and the simple, but fact-based telling of this Ghost Army.  

My only issue with this book is it comes with a mystery hidden in the pages and an envelope of “spy-craft tools” to uncover the mystery (making it feel like an activity book) and I feel like it takes away from the story which is amazing on its own.  

Clarification:  The Spycraft Kit envelope is only in the trade edition.  The library editions will be printed in April of 2019.  While they will still have a mystery within the pages, they will not have the Spycraft Kit envelope so no need to worry about losing small pieces in circulation.  We will review the library editions when they are published.  They will include this title and two new books! --- Cindy

C. Peterson