Having read this book, I highly recommend it. One does not have to be young to enjoy it, however.
Local author’s novel for young adults shares why we honor the fallen on Memorial Day
The climax of The Burning Sea of Iron Bottom Bay, a novel of historical fiction for young adults by local author Rich Rostron, is one of the most chaotic and explosive naval battles in history.
It’s a story of Americans as underdogs taking on a powerful enemy fleet knowing that they are sailing into a mission that is virtually suicide.
“It’s about a young man, Kyle, from McHenry, who is surprised to find he is bonding with his great-grandfather, a veteran who fought in, and had a bird’s eye view of that battle,” said Rostron.
“It’s a story of a veteran who served with those we honor on Memorial Day, those who gave up their futures so we can have our todays.”
Kyle is dealing with his parents’ divorce, which includes economic, as well as emotional effects.
As he enters McHenry West High School as a freshman, he is also dealing with a bully who has followed him up from middle school.
As Kyle’s great-grandfather shares his experiences, Kyle discovers that he is receiving more than a history lesson.
“He’s also learning about dealing with the challenges life throws at us all,” said Rostron.
He said he wrote the book as a novel for young adults because he wanted to write something young readers could relate to.
“At the same time, I wanted to share with them the very real prices Americans paid for their freedoms.
“I want them to understand how valuable our liberties are.”
Rostrons At War
While Rostron sits and writes at the counter of Ethereal Confections in Woodstock, his father, James Rostron, sits nearby reading.
But, with the arrival of Memorial Day weekend, his father, a Korean War veteran who served on the battleship USS Missouri, sits with a display of his brother, Freddie Rostron.
The display includes the Purple Heart and Bronze Star that Freddie Rostron earned on Okinawa in the last major battle of the war where the US Army soldier gave his life.
“My father had seven brothers who served in WWII,” said the author, “eight if you count my Aunt Margaret’s husband, Harry Cotton.”
Additional Reading
Rostron’s second novel of historical fiction also explores the price of liberty, though this time he wrote about the battle that started the American Revolution.
“Even a great-grandfather would have to be a bit too old to have lived at the time of the Revolution,” said Rostron. “But a ghost could share those experiences, which is how The Ghost of Lexington and Concord was born.”
Rostron is now working on a picture book for even younger readers that will tell the story of Boston at the time of the American Revolution.
The Burning Sea of Iron Bottom Bay and The Ghost of Lexington and Concord are both available on Amazon. They’re also available at Kim and Patty’s Café, 731 Ridgeview Drive, McHenry, and at My Little Bow Peeps Shop, MD Trains and Read Between the Lynes in The Woodstock Square.
