PUBLISHED: London : Chicken House, c2014.
PLOT:
Germany, 1941. 12-year-old Karl Engel is looking forward to joining the Hitler Youth, like all boys his age.
But when his father is killed, and his family moves in with his grandparents, he discovers things that leave his faith in the Führer shaken. Everyone seems to know something he doesn't. When he joins his brother in rebellion, his life will never be the same.
REVIEW:
This book is very interesting (I read it on my lunch break over a week and it was very difficult to get back to work :) ), and could be recommended to reluctant readers and to tweens/teens interested in history. It could be included on the reading list when introducing WW2 - certainly it lends itself to further discussion about Germany and the war, and how it may have felt to be a German at that time.
I liked the progression of the main character (from a very naive and rather irritating boy to a character with courage and convictions) and the inclusion of factual information about the Edelweiss Pirates.
This book could be a class read-aloud with 6th or 7th graders.
Also in this vein (war): Boy in the Striped Pajamas or Then.
AGE: 12-15. While the actual reading level is around age 10 or 11, the topics require a little maturity if you want children to read this and understand the implications in the broader context of a complex real-life war.
GENRE: Realistic fiction / Historical fiction.
RATING: 4 - 4 1/2 stars.
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