Silent Soldiers

by Catherine Chambers, Jason Juta (Illustrator)

Overview

Skilled assassins and saboteurs have undermined the most powerful armies with secret tactics and weapons. Slip in among them to see stealthy warriors from different times and places on their dangerous missions and surprise their enemies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467793568
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/01/2016
Series:	Warriors! Series
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	1060L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 11 Years

About the Author

Catherine Chambers was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and brought up in England. She has written about 130 titles for children and young adults, and enjoys seeking out intriguing facts for her nonfiction titles.

Jason Juta is a South African-born, freelance illustrator living in London. He creates digitally painted fantasy art for the gaming industry, including Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, and Warhammer, and combines traditional painting techniques with photography in personal artwork.

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

Bold Batavi: The Roman army's storm troops 8

Ghostly Ninja: Japanese spies, saboteurs, and assassins 10

Apache Shock: Stalking and ambush in defense of a nation 12

Mysterious Mamluks: Elite troops of an early Arab empire 14

Silent Aztec Scouts: Deadly "animal" warriors in ancient Mexico 16

Gritty Gurkhas: Fearless Nepalese fighters of worldwide fame 18

Alaskan Inuit Attack: Waging war with camouflage and fire 20

Deadly Azande: Carving out a kingdom in the African forests 22

Hawaii's Horror Koa: Mysticism and martial arts of an island people 24

Hidden Mountain Maroons: From secret community to guerrilla force 26

Battles of Speed and Stealth 28

More Ferocious Facts and Glossary 30

Index 32

Editorial Reviews

2015-12-22
Muscular figures in intrepid poses stock this tribute to "stealth warriors" through the ages.Readers whose awareness of sneaky scouts and assassins begins and ends with ninjas are in for a surprise, as Chambers picks nine other groups of fearsome fighters to join them, including the "Bold Batavi" auxiliaries who fought for ancient Rome, the central African Azande, the "Gritty Gurkhas" of Nepal, and "Hawaii's Horror Koa." In his painted reconstructions, Juta portrays burly heroes lurking in bushes to spy or, wielding characteristic weaponry, charging down on dismayed-looking victims. The thrills are strictly superficial, though, as the pictures are not only sans visible blood, but impersonal in composition, with the warriors usually turned away from viewers. Along with general remarks about the history and fearsomeness of each warrior type, the author supplies such facile "facts" ("factoids" would be more accurate) as "Batavi gouged and slashed their enemies' faces," and "Maroons used the secret powers of the Obeah spirits to scare the enemy." In contrast to the all-male lineup here, three of the 10 historical war leaders profiled in the co-published Fierce Fighters are women. Reflecting the Warriors series' international outlook, in the latter, only two, Alexander the Great and Vlad the Impaler, were Europeans. Pages of further "facts" and specific battles cap both volumes. The tiny text type may keep readers lacking confidence away; otherwise, cheap thrills aplenty for casual browsers. (map, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews