To Lure Young Readers, Nonfiction Writers Sanitize and Simplify

Of all the horrors Louis Zamperini endured during World War II - a plane crash into the Pacific, 47 days stranded at sea, two years in a prisoner-of-war camp - the one experience that truly haunted him was when a Japanese guard tortured and killed an injured duck. The episode, recounted in Laura Hillenbrand's best seller "Unbroken," also traumatized many readers, Ms. Hillenbrand said. So when she was writing a new edition aimed at young adults, she left that scene out. "I know that if I were 12 and reading it, that would upset me," Ms. Hillenbrand said.