Under the Iron Bridge

October 1, 2021

Gr 7 Up-World War II enthusiasts will enjoy this title that provides an in-depth, albeit fictional, depiction of the Edelweiss Pirates. This group is portrayed as courageous, defiant, and determined teenagers who are willing to risk their lives for what they believe is right. Paul Ritter is a 15-year-old German boy living in the late 1930s who is challenged to join the Hitler Youth. Paul experiences inward and outward struggles with the methodology of the group yet his parents convince him to join just so his safety will be ensured. He doesn't agree with the group's beliefs and yearns to effect change in his community, and joins the Edelweiss Pirates. What ensues is Paul's journey with the group. While approaching the emotional topic, Kacer does not go into graphic detail about the events that occur. There are some sensitive scenes, but they are presented much less graphically than in many similar books. The back matter explains some of the terms and events in the book in more detail. VERDICT This well-written, easily understandable portrayal of some events of the Holocaust will be an asset to middle and high school libraries and history teachers.-Megan Honeycutt, Univ. of West Georgia, Carrollton

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2021
In the months before Kristallnacht, a German teen, hating the Hitler Youth, finds a youth club of freedom fighters. Paul, a White, Christian 15-year-old in 1938 D�sseldorf, wishes pretty Analia still went to his school. They've shared one kiss, and she's been his friend for years--but Analia, like other Jews, is no longer allowed to attend classes. Paul still has his best friend, but Harold is increasingly obsessed with the Hitler Youth; Paul loathes Adolf Hitler, the Nazis, and antisemitism, but what can he do? He still joins the Hitler Youth, because in a world where his own classmates inform on their parents to the Gestapo, is there any other way to be safe? But is Paul imagining things, or did he hear some brave--or reckless?--kids singing anti-Hitler songs? In fact Paul has discovered the Edelweiss Pirates, a real-life group of teens who met illegally across Hitler's Germany to resist Nazism. Paul joins them, running increasingly risky schemes to cause petty annoyances for the Nazis, until he sees Analia on Kristallnacht, a series of concerted attacks on synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses. This leads to a climactic moment in their relationship. Although the real Pirates were predominately working class, Paul is the child of two doctors. Though the historical danger and torment are muted, this is a tense, exciting adventure about vital resistance. An accessible, well-paced story about courageous young people resisting the Nazis. (historical note) (Historical fiction. 12-14)

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