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10 young adult books for readers of all ages who want to learn

Don't avoid these titles because they're billed for younger readers. These are fascinating books for all ages.

3. "Courage Has No Color: The True Story of Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers," by Tanya Lee Stone

  • By Ross Atkin

(Candlewick, 160 pp.)

The Triple Nickles, America’s first black paratroopers, trained at Fort Benning, Ga., during World War II, hoping to see combat action like their white counterparts, and although segregation prevented that, they did pioneer the field of smoke jumping to fight forest fires.

Here's an excerpt from "Courage Has No Color":

“When the officers took their first jump, the mood was serious. ‘I slept very little the night before our first jump..... The usual banter was missing. Each of us knew that we were about to do something no other black officers in military history had ever done before,’ [Lt Bradley] Biggs said.

“Each of the two groups going through training – the twenty enlisted men and the six officers who followed just after them – had to complete four daylight jumps and one night jump in order to earn their wings. 

“That first jump into the dark black night, counting on their skills, their instincts, their guts, is the turning point for paratroopers. Once that was under their belts, they knew they had what it took.”

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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