All Thirteen

All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team
Christina Soontornvat
Candlewick, 2020
280 page
Grades 4-8
Non-fiction

Soontornvat presents a Newbery Honor winning own-voices account of the 2018 rescue of the Wild Boars, a soccer team of boys that were rescued from a cave in Thailand. We meet the members of the Wild Boards, their devoted coach, as well as family members, Thai officials, military personnel, expert cave divers from around the world, and civilian volunteers, who all worked together to make the rescue possible. The story is conveyed chronologically with new members of the rescue team being introduced as the days go from one to another. Numerous full-color illustrations and maps round out the volume and extensive source notes and an index make it a great tool for research. Almost too dramatic to be true, the story that mesmerized the world is brought to life with all of its twists and turns, sure to intrigue young readers, who may not remember the actual events.

Like the rest of the world I found myself holding my breath during the summer of 2018 as the young members of the Thai soccer team were brought out to safety. A non-fiction account was released by veteran author Marc Aronson titled Rising Water: The Story of the Thai Cave Rescue in 2019. This was well written, if quickly, researched, and told the story in an interesting way. What makes the Soontornvat volume a bit more effective is that she somehow manages to create high emotion, while maintaining factual integrity. I felt as if I were right there in the middle of the proceedings and felt myself tearing up as the boys were swum out of the cave, one after another. The boys, themselves, serve as an inspiration and their bravery, humility and grace under pressure is a testament to great character. The book is impressively designed with many sidebars and extra info and diagrams to flesh-out the story. Soontornvat comes from a scientific background and this comes through as engineering details and other scientific information is included to explain the working of the cave and the rescue. With a little something for everyone, this narrative non-fiction title is a well researched, yet entertaining, piece of literature that can work for both curriculum support and pleasure reading.