The unique concept of this slim, paperback book is that the reader is actually living during World War II and is being given basic rules of survival for the period. The active voice livens up a perhaps distant subject for young readers by explaining how they might survive a bomb attack, be evacuated to the countryside, and participate in home front economies. The journalistic format and multitude of period pictures and examples of war artifacts, like gas masks (it would have been interesting to see the Mickey Mouse juvenile gas mask), ration coupon books, toys and explosives give the book historical integrity. The one flaw is that the book does not identify the country in which young participants might be living. There are many pictures of buildings reduced to rubble which infers that the location might be Europe (the pictures are German archival). The use of terms like “wireless” for radio reinforces this perception that the location is Britain, as does the description of evacuation of children from urban areas to the countryside. Later in the book, however, the descriptions seem to represent home front activities in the US with descriptions of Victory gardens and pictures of apparently American teens jiving at a dance. Back matter includes a glossary of terms, index, brief book recommendations and websites. The vocabulary and format would make this a good selection for high interest/low vocabulary readers. A secondary purchase that is specifically curriculum related. Reviewer: Lois Rubin Gross