All Thirteen The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys Soccer Team is a young adult non-fiction novel written by Christina Soontornvat. It was published on October 13, 2020 and it consists of 220 pages. The awards and nominees for the novel are:

• 2021 John Newbery Medal.
• 2021 Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Text for Older Readers.

All Thirteen is about a team of 12 young soccer players and their coach who get trapped in a cave after practice. They wanted to go exploring for a bit, but heavy rain started and when they tried to leave, the rain had blocked their path. It is based on a true story and it happened in Thailand.

I chose to read this novel because I remember seeing the rescue of the Thai boys soccer team all over the news LIVE. At the time, I didn’t pay too much attention to the coverage, so when I found out there was a novel about it, I just had to read it. I also chose to read this novel because I wanted to learn more about their struggles and experiences with the situation they were in. In the news, although as I mentioned, I didn’t pay too much attention to the coverage of the situation at the time, I’m sure it still didn’t quite show how they felt. Reading this novel allowed me to learn about their situation from their own perspective.

I recommend this novel to fourth graders and up. The novel is based on a true story about a Thai boys soccer team getting trapped in a cave, so I think it’s a story that anyone can hear and learn about at a very young age. There doesn’t seem to be any profanity or themes that aren’t appropriate for their age, so I think it’s an amazing read for these age groups. I would read this novel as a whole group and I would also encourage it as an individual read due to it being based on a true story.

For read alouds, I would especially read:

• Pgs. 59 – 60, “Feelings on Day 3 in the Cave”.

• Pgs. 79 – 81, “Diving in the Water”.

All Thirteen was a very interesting and enjoyable read. It was also very saddening, happy, and created all sorts of emotions throughout the read. I have been reading lots of novels about injustices, as fictional stories painting a picture of real life or true stories, but All Thirteen was different in the sense that it was a true story about a life and death situation not caused by humans. Instead, it was a bit refreshing to finally read a novel about people working together to help other people in need.

I would love to explore more novels based on true stories about people helping one another in a difficult, life and death situation not caused by other people. It helps me feel more hopeful for humanity.