Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's First Black Paratroopers

This book starts with a loud bang and continues the frantic pace throughout, which brings to life the frenetic energy of someone preparing for war. The backbone of the narrative arc is formed by the pride of America’s first black paratroopers, the heroes who knew they would be relegated to the sidelines but were proud to serve their country nonetheless. Interspersed between personal histories is historical context on how Americans treated ethnic minorities and the kinds of struggles African Americans faced in daily life. This book makes it very clear that this period in time is a far cry away from the atmosphere of the Civil Rights, which themselves weren’t even all that welcoming to change and equality.

Exactly the kind of history book to hand to young readers: relevant, engaging, enlightening, and important. I found Tanya Lee Stone's writing extremely down-to-earth and honest, admitting that we don't know much about America's first black paratroopers because we've ignored them in our history books and popular movies, such as Saving Private Ryan. By zeroing in on this group of brave, fearless, and pioneering men, Stone cracks open the experiences of these American soldiers to reveal deeply felt experiences of racial prejudices and inequalities that tested their resolve, but never their patriotism.

The black and white photographs are outstanding, bringing these men to life in the 21st century, and the layout is top notch. This is the show more highly touted Common Core's "informational text" (otherwise known as non-fiction) at its finest. Highly recommended for grades 5 and up. show less

The Triple Nickles were the first Black paratroopers in America. While they did not see combat in World War II, they were instrumental in showing that Black soldiers were equal to White soldiers and, along with a farsighted General, began the process of integrating the U.S. Armed Forces.

Tanya Lee Stone’s latest book, Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers is an immensely readable and enjoyable history of the Triple Nickles, from their humble beginnings (training themselves by performing the same exercies as the White paratrooper soldiers) to becoming a formal unit in the military to being decorated as heroes decades after the war was over.

Unsure what to do with this highly show more trained group, the Triple Nickles were sent to the Western United States as firejumpers, those firefighters who parachute directly into fires to combat them. This was in response to the Japanese sending balloons laden with bombs across the Pacific with the intent of bombing the U. S. on its own turf. Some did actually land and start forest fires. Firejumping was a new profession in the mid-1940s and the Triple NIckles performed this function with honor. Although it was not fighting Hitler, it was still serving their country.

Courage Has No Color was an eye-opener to me because I never realized the segregation and bigotry that existed in the Armed Forces during W.W. II. Stone’s writing style brings the action and people to life. The extent of her research is obvious in the writing and footnotes. In my mind, Stone, along with Susan Campbell Bartoletti are the two major forces in readable Young Adult non-fiction.

For another eye-opener, read Stone’s previous book, Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. I couldn’t put either book down. You won’t be disappointed. show less

Tanya Stone did a fantastic job telling the unknown story of the first black paratrooper in World War II. Even though these men never went into actual battle in the war, they fought and won the battle against segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces. What's interesting about this entire time period is that while the US was fighting against extreme discrimination in Germany, African Americans were suffering as well. I thought this book would pair well with Nazi Hunters to show this seemingly hypocritical stance.

This true story examines the roles of African Americans in military history, specifically the Triple Nickels, America's first black paratroopers. Through the use of photographs and historical documents, this true narrative is presented to middle school readers to help them examine issues such as equality and perseverance. This book can connect to ELA content such as chronological storytelling and text structure, as well as tone and determining the central idea. Vocabulary that could be taught through this reading is perseverance, discrimination, and segregation. This book would be an excellent read to not only focus on the aspect of non-fiction, but also an addition to a library classroom that promotes diversity and reflects different show more voices and experiences in ELA. show less

Luckily for YA readers, this book is the only one describing the history of the 555th Infantry Batallion and the painfully slow desegregation of American troops.

Complete with photographs and personal quotes, this book gives the reader an idea of how patriotic and determined these men were. The only problem I had was that the reader might infer that these events were responsible for desegregation as a whole and was even the reason we now have a black president.

In any case, it is an inspiring story and a well written chronicle of a group of extremely brave men.

Courage Has No Color: the True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers highlights life in the American military during World War II from an often overlooked perspective. Stone highlights life in the 1930s for people of color, especially military men. In general, people of think enlisting in the service as serving a greater good; this is especially the case for the black paratroopers that Stone celebrates in Courage Has No Color. They are fighting not only to help end the Holocaust occurring in Europe, but also to prove that people of color in America were denied the full citizenship they deserved. This nonfiction book is written in a clear style, with plenty of images effectively complementing the text. Teens show more and adults alike might enjoy this historical look about freedom both in America and abroad during World War II.

5Q, 4P show less