When The Lights Go Out was written for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 so our kids will never forget its importance. Many middle grade readers are too young to remember anything about 9/11 except for what they see on TV. This exciting, heart-pounding action-adventure story can help.
When the Lights go Out
Peyton Aldrich has just moved to a new army base with his parents and younger sister. He doesn’t understand why his father has been sent to such a rundown place in the middle of nowhere. After all, his father was a colonel, with top security clearance, who completed the elite Ranger school. And his training had been in Army Intelligence. Yet, here they were.
Peyton was never allowed to ask his father anything about what he did in the army. Nor was he allowed to ever get in the way. There were many secrets that his dad couldn’t even tell his own family.
Peyton idolized his father. One day, he hoped to grow up to be just like him. His father had told him that the army may not be for everyone, but after what happened on 9/11, somebody had to help keep the country safe.
Peyton finds two friends. Gill is the son of the base’s motor pool sergeant, and Dave’s father is the base chaplain. Together they decide to train like Rangers, and search for some kind of mission they could do. Little did they know that a mission was about to put the boys right in the crosshairs of a dangerous terrorist plot, when a secret weapon would be delivered to the base on its way across the country.
There was no way Peyton could tell his father what he knew. After all, it could cost him his job. Peyton, Gill, and Dave have to take matters into their own hands, and they do.
Will the terrorists find out who is trying to expose their evil plan? Will the boys be able to stop them? And what will happen to Peyton’s father when the general finds out what the boys did?
“When the Lights go Out.” A story for kids, and their parents, so we never forget 9/11.
Get a copy for your young reader today!
Updated for 9/11/2016
From Focus on the Family
Some dates burn deeply into our collective memory forever. I will never forget where I was and what I was doing on September 11, 2001. You probably know the same. Your children, quite possibly, were not yet born before 9/11, and you will have to explain that famous date to them at an appropriate time. They need your explanation of this shocking and tragic even in America.
Max Elliot Anderson has dedicated his latest adventure fiction, When the Lights Go Out (Comfort Publishing, 2012), to “the memory of 9/11 and the people who lost their lives that day, so we never forget.” Anderson has written numerous adventure books geared for eight-to thirteen-year-old boys.
Peyton Aldrich, the central character, is the son of a US Army colonel who specializes in intelligence. Colonel Aldrich’s top-secret work leaves young Peyton curious yet proud of his father who was recently stationed at a new army base in the middle of nowhere along with his family. The colonel has an important job protecting the country from terrorists. When Peyton and his friends accidentally discover a dangerous plot on the base, they determine to stop it. Will the terrorists catch them? What will happen if the evil plan succeeds? This fast-paced story lives up to Anderson’s previous books. It will hold young readers’ attention right up to the surprise ending.
Video When the Lights Go Out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfSEkGN5q0U&feature
Marilyn Rockett is Editor in Chief of Homeschooling Today Magazine
Posted on Facebook
"My 12 yo son has read this three times... My 10 yo son was finally able to get it away from him to read it himself. He declared it the best book ever! :) Thank you!"
I want to make sure you are aware of a book, When The Lights Go Out, especially with what is now in the news daily about terrorist threats. This is an adventure / mystery for readers 8 - 13 with a terrorist plot.
In the story, the father of the main character is able to tell his kids why he joined the army instead of going into business. He says, "After what happened on 9/11, somebody had to help keep the country safe." This opens a short discussion with his two children in which he briefly recounts the events of that day.
I found, while speaking in schools, that many children today know little or nothing about 9/11 or why it's important to them. When The Lights Go Out will help teachers, librarians, grandparents, and parents with this issue.
Students don’t know much about it and it isn’t an important part of the curriculum. There may be pockets of areas where this isn’t true, but I’m not aware of those.
On a recent national news program, I saw some man-on-the-street interviews of young people in their late teens and early twenties. A few could explain what took place on 9/11, but sadly, most had no idea.
We can NOT allow this to continue.
Please tell as many people as possible about
When the Lights Go Out.
Video When the Lights Go Out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfSEkGN5q0U&feature
Max Elliot Anderson
Video Book Trailer
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