Band of Angels

by Julian F. Thompson

Book Overview

While traveling across the country, a group of teenagers decide to launch a kids' campaign against nuclear war unaware that they are being pursued by government agents determined to kill each of them. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590431242
• ISBN13: 9780590431248
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.1" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

The storyline is dated, but the message is timeless

Perhaps, in the year 2002, it is difficult for someone who was born after the year this book takes place to identify with a question like "Are there going to be any such years as 1995, 2000?"Perhaps, in a time when the main threats to the United States seem to come from the Middle East, rather than Eastern Europe, the continual concern about "making sure the Russians don't get it" sees out of place.Perhaps, many years from now, this book will be viewable and readable as an historical novel?What can I say? The idea that "five kids can change the world" is still a powerful one. The specifics of the storyline might seem odd and dated now, but the ideas and the struggles are timeless. Even if you have to ask someone what it all means, give this one a read. :)

It is an outstanding story. I loved every page.

A Band of Angels The story a band of Angels is a very interesting book about a couple of young scientist's. They are working for the government to create a virus that would be used in wars. They discovered the formula but decided the government didn't deserve to have it. With the money the got from the project, They took their baby boy to a friend, a woman and then they killed themselves. The boy, Jonathan never knew what happened to his parents and grew up running from town to town. Than one day a car hits and kills the woman, leaving him all alone. Well, However, a girl, riley, was standing on the corner, and sees it happen. She invited him to her house and then on a trip with her, and a friend, Michel. Now the three of them are alone in a car. There they run into two other people, another girl and a boy. Riley and Jonathan fall in love. Riley and Jonathan started dating and getting really serious about each other. Although they had no clue Jonathan was being chased by two FBI agents. As the FBI agents get closer they see Jonathan and Riley. They shoot at the two kids. This was a great book if you like happy endings. I love the twist and turns in this book. You never know what is going to happen next. There are survival problems and hundreds of surprise solutions. This book is great for anyone how likes to be surprised.

Not as timely but still worth reading

Chances are that if you're the same age as the characters in this novel (16), you don't remember what it was like to live with the possibility of nuclear war, no matter how real or imagined the danger. This book, however, is still very much worth reading, as are Julian Thompson's other early novels (Simon Pure, The Taking of Mariasburg, The Grounding of Group 6, Discontinued). I was enchanted by Thompson's novels when I was in high school, and I am still highly impressed by his unusual (but believable) storylines and command of language. This particular novel deals with five teenagers who develop a plan of action to save the world, which is not as corny as it sounds, not by a long shot. So many novels for young adults are so narrow in focus that one would think that teenagers never consider any life beyond high school. This novel's breadth of subject matter and depth of focus does 16-year-olds credit.