Best Selling Books by Harry Mazer

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 one thinks he’ll be in real danger. But his decision has devastating consequences: His convoy gets caught in an explosion, and Ben ends up in a coma for two months. When he wakes up, he doesn’t know where he is—or remember anything about his old life. His family and friends mourn what they see as a loss, but Ben perseveres. And as he triumphs, readers will relate to this timely novel that pairs the action and adventure of the best war stories with the emotional elements of struggle and transformation. As an underage soldier in WWII, Henry Mazer has firsthand experience of what it means to be a young man in the military.

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 off in his mother''s old Plymouth. Driving without a license in the middle of a severe snowstorm, he picks up a hitchhiker named Cindy Reichert, an aloof girl who has always had difficulty forming friendships. To impress Cindy, Tony tries to show off his driving skills and ends up wrecking the car in a very desolated area far from the main highway. After spending precious days bickering with each other and waiting for rescue that never comes, they finally realize that their lives are at stake and they must cooperate to survive. The question is--can they survive?

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 ship. A geyser of water shot into the air and came crashing down. Adam was almost thrown out of the rowboat. He clung to the seat as it swung around. He saw blue skies and the glittering city. The boat swung back again, and he saw black clouds, and the Arizona, his father''s ship, sinking beneath the water. -- from A Boy at War "He kept looking up, afraid the planes would come back. The sky was obscured by black smoke....It was all unreal: the battleships half sunk, the bullet holes in the boat, Davi and Martin in the water." December 7, 1941: On a quiet Sunday morning, while Adam and his friends are fishing near Honolulu, a surprise attack by Japanese bombers destroys the fleet at Pearl Harbor. Even as Adam struggles to survive the sudden chaos all around him, and as his friends endure the brunt of the attack, a greater concern hangs over his head: Adam''s father, a navy lieutenant, was stationed on the USS Arizona when the bombs fell. During the subsequent days Adam -- not yet a man, but no longer a boy -- is caught up in the war as he desperately tries to make sense of what happened to his friends and to find news of his father. Harry Mazer, whose autobiographical novel, The Last Mission, brought the European side of World War II to vivid life, now turns to the Pacific theater and how the impact of war can alter young lives forever.

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 twenty-four treacherous bombing missions over occupied Europe. The war is almost over and Hitler near defeat when they fly their last mission -- a mission destined for disaster. Shot down far behind enemy lines, Jack is taken prisoner and sent to a German POW camp, where his experiences are more terrifying than anything he''d ever imagined.

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.

Twelve-year-old Sammy, who is mildly retarded, runs away from home and becomes a prisoner of Kevin, a wild kid living in the woods.

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 frozen pizza in his empty apartment and runs at a nearby track late at night, training for an imaginary race. Sophie Browne can run a farm all by herself, but now she''s headed to the city to find out what else she can do. Cheerful and resourceful, Sophie rents a little apartment and gets a job in the neighborhood. It''s a start, but Sophie''s real dream is to get her pilot''s license. She knows from her flying lessons that she loves being high over the earth, light and free. Two young people, both used to being alone but tired of feeling lonely, find out whether they can learn to be together in this story about the benefits—and drawbacks—of independence.

In this follow-up to his acclaimed "A Boy at War," Mazer explores what loyalty, friendship, and patriotism mean in a time of war in this story set against the backdrop of World War II.

"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, a lieutenant on the USS Arizona. Even though Adam is underage, he defies his mother''s wishes and enlists in the Marines. Sent first to boot camp, then to Okinawa, he experiences the stark reality of war firsthand -- the camaraderie and the glory as well as the grueling regimen, the paralyzing fear, and death. And at every turn, Adam must confront memories of his father. In the concluding volume of his World War II trilogy, Harry Mazer masterfully illustrates Adam''s journey as he navigates brutal circumstances that no boy should know.

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 imagines his future, he sees Julie in it. She''ll be a doctor and they''ll stay in their small town and always be able to see the bright lights of New York City across the Hudson River. The two of them are so close, they''re like two parts of the same person—only whole when they''re together. But when Julie suddenly calls off their relationship, everything George thought was certain starts to crumble away. In desperation, he starts exchanging online messages with a stranger, someone right across the river in the big city. On the Internet, George discovers, you can be anyone you want—or you can be exactly who you are, even if you''re still finding out just who that is.

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 everyone is different, more adult, more . . . experienced? His friend Alec is smooth and charming around girls; Marcus definitely can''t talk to him about his doubts. The only person he confides in is Wendy, a childhood friend who just moved back to Sherwood High to finish her senior year. Marcus and Wendy share their crushes, their disappointments, and their nervousness about dating and sex. Then Marcus has an idea: If he and Wendy share the same problem, maybe they can share a solution, too . . . or maybe it''s all much more complicated than he ever imagined.

Raised by his mother, a fat fourteen-year-old boy feels he must find his father in order to establish his own identity.

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 a scene in a movie, planning the camera angles and imagining people reading the lines he''ll write for them. As soon as he saves up enough money to move to California, he''s going to quit his dishwashing job, and then . . . look out for Director Orloff! Unfortunately, Mary Silver doesn''t seem to have read the script. When they were in high school drama club together, she never noticed Jeff, and now that she''s back in town, a new player has entered the scene: Mary''s infant daughter, Hannah. Being a mom is a full-time job, but Jeff knows that Mary was born to be an actress—he''s seen her come alive on stage, transforming into her character from the inside out. Her kind of talent is in a class by itself. If only Mary could see herself as Jeff sees her—beautiful and talented . . . and utterly in love with him. Will their romance always be just in his head? Or can he win Mary''s heart another way—by figuring out what it means to be a friend to her, and to Hannah?

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 working all day in a garment factory and his father looking for work in Baltimore, Tolley''s family depends on him. But suddenly, things go from hard to unthinkable. When his mother gets pneumonia and can''t leave the hospital, Tolley becomes the only family Bubber can rely on. Afraid that the children''s shelter will split them up, the two brothers hop a crosstown bus and strike out on their own, up and down fire escapes, across rooftops, and into the cellars and shadows of New York City. Tolley will need all the street smarts he''s ever learned to get them through the winter—and to hold on to his dreams of having a family again.

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.

Sam''s world turns upside down when his wealthy uncle dies and his emotionally fragile aunt walks out on his cousin. Suddenly cousins Lisa and Robyn must leave their comfortable house and move in with Sam''s family. Sam''s house is small and chaotic, and his mother is tough as nails. To make matter worse, Sam is attracted to the coolly beautiful Lisa, but she thinks he''s a jerk. Confronted with the common goal of finding Lisa''s mother, both Sam and Lisa are forced to face reality. Sam must accept that his mother will always lack finesse, and Lisa relizes her mother isn''t as strong as she wants her to be. What else will Sam and Lisa discover as they pull together to search for Lisa''s missing mother?

Unhappy with her life, Cleo runs away to an island her father owns in Canada.

A teen-age boy tries to come to terms with various aspects of his life, his relationship with his often drunk and abusive father, the menace of a local bully and his gang, and his love of running.

When their parents are killed in an airplane crash, three siblings try to keep the family together in the face of overwhelming personal and financial problems.