Harry Mazer: 14 books

"I WANTED TO SERVE, TO BE PART OF THIS THING MY FATHER HAD GIVEN HIS LIFE FOR. I DIDN'T WANT THE WAR TO END, AND ALL I'D BE ABLE TO SAY WAS, NO I DIDN'T SERVE, I WAS RIGHT HERE THE WHOLE WAR, SAFE IN BAKERSFIELD." Adam Pelko witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that killed his father,...

This short story was written thirty-eight years ago by the prize-winning novelist for young readers, Harry Mazer, and first published in 2008 by Worthy Shorts.

They rowed hard, away from the battleships and the bombs. Water sprayed over them. The rowboat pitched one way and then the other. Then, before his eyes, the Arizona lifted up out of the water. That enormous battleship bounced up in the air like a rubber ball and split apart. Fire burst out of the...

A soldier returns home from Iraq forever changed in this poignant and pivotal novel from award-winning authors–one a veteran. Ben lives a charmed life—effortlessly landing the lead in the high school musical, dating the prettiest girl in school. When he decides to enlist in the army, no...

At fifteen, Tony Laporte is what many people would call a throughly spoiled kid. He gets away with a lot because his parents want him to have all the things they never had. But when they surprise him by refusing to let him keep a stray dog he has found, Tony decides to teach them a lesson by running...

In 1944, as World War II is  raging across Europe, fifteen-year-old Jack Raab  dreams of being a hero. Leaving New York City, his  family, and his boyhood behind, Jack uses a false  I.D. and lies his way into the U.S. Air  Force. From their base in England, he and his crew  fly...

Nobody said New York City was easy, but for Tolley Holtz, it’s home Tolley Holtz would rather be exploring the city with his friends, talking about the Yankees, and discussing what President Roosevelt is going to do about the Depression than watching his little brother, Bubber. With his mother...

**Jeff’s life would be so much better if he were the one directing it ** Close-up: Mary running toward him with tears in her eyes. “Oh, my darling, I couldn’t wait to get back.” Cut to long shot: Jeff puts his arms around her. They kiss. Fade out.   Jeff already sees everything as...

**Can Marcus be friends with a girl without thinking about sex all the time? ** Marcus Rosenbloom wants to be a writer almost as much as he doesn’t want to be a virgin anymore. At seventeen years old, Marcus thinks, shouldn’t he have done it already? Crossed over to the other side, where...

When you’re alone, all you have to think about is yourself Willis Pierce knows she’s out there somewhere. He doesn’t know when she’ll appear, but he knows that when he meets the girl of his dreams, they’ll recognize each other from the look in their eyes. In the meantime, Willis eats...

In these three finely crafted novellas that chart the emotional ties that bind man and man’s best friend together, a brilliant dog changes places with his basketball playing master, a young man falls in love with a dog trainer, and a newspaper delivery boy tries desperately to find an appropriate final resting place for one of his customer’s beloved pets.

Virtually nothing is known about Sarah Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's older sister. This novel follows the few known facts of the Lincoln family's early life, starting with the Lincolns' move from Kentucky to Indiana when Sarah was nine through their years living in a log cabin, the death of Sarah and...

George feels as if he’s going through life with his eyes half closed—but sometimes that’s how you bump into the best surprises George has been in love with Julie since they were twelve years old. For six years, they’ve barely taken a step without each other, and and every time George...

"Can I go home now?" After his bike gets stolen, twelve-year-old Sammy gets lost in the woods near his home. He stumbles upon the makeshift hideaway of the "wild kid" named Kevin, who has run away from reform school. Will this strongly independent tough let Sammy get home to his family? Can they both survive in the unforgiving wilderness?