Today's Grateful List/31 December 2015
- Going to get answers no matter what
A Quickie (No, not that kind)
Spy Smuggler: My Story is told through the eyes of 13/14 year old Paul, whose father was killed while opposing the German occupation of France. Paul is desperate to show his disdain for the Germans, and is disgusted that his uncle Maurice seems to do his best to stay on the friendly side of them. When Paul rebels against his teacher who supports Hitler, he finds himself behind bars, facing a very real threat on his life. But fate intervenes, and Paul's uncle rescues him...and then recruits him to join the Resistance, with whom he has been covertly working for years. Paul jumps at the chance, even though it will place him in harm's way and may even get him killed.
This is a very fast read, probably most suitable for those reading on grades 4-8 levels. Paul is not always the nicest kid around, but he is very realistic, and definitely committed to the cause. The glimpse of what a young man fighting for French freedom during World War II is well written and vivid, and the inclusion of a timeline at the end is quite welcome. There are actual photographs included as well. While not high literature, it's evident the author has done his research and this would be a good inclusion in a unit on the history of the Second World War.
~taminator40
2 comments:
Sounds like a good premise. I'm glad you enjoyed it. The "diary" I read from this series disappointed me but I noticed there were quite a few other "My Story" books and most got higher marks from readers. The one thing I really loved was the extra material at the end, which made the book much sooo more informative. Sounds like that's a continuing feature. Excellent.
"Diary" is in quotations because it was fiction, which irritated me because there was no author name on the cover and nothing to indicate it was not a genuine diary in the description I read before purchasing. Now that I know the series is a fictional one, I doubt I'd be as annoyed.
Post a Comment