Reviews
Returning to material she uncovered while researching Hitler Youth, Bartoletti offers a fictionalized biography of Helmuth H\u00fcbener, a Hamburg teenager who, in February 1942, was arrested for writing and distributing leaflets that denounced Hitler. Almost nine months later, on October 27, at the age of 17, H\u00fcbener was executed for treason. Opening her story on H\u00fcbener's last day, Bartoletti frames the work as third-person flashbacks, casting over the narrative a terrible sense of doom even as she escalates the tension. She does an excellent job of conveying the political climate surrounding Hitler's ascent to power, seamlessly integrating a complex range of socioeconomic conditions into her absorbing drama of Helmuth and his fatherless family. The author also convincingly shows how Helmuth originally embraces Hitler. His disillusionment seems to come a little too easily; American readers may wonder why Helmuth's reactions were not more common. But that question resolves itself as the author exposes the chilling gap between her own admiration for her subject and reflections, discussed in an afterword, from those who knew Helmuth, as in this comment from his older brother: \u201cHe should have known better than that.... A sixteen-year-old boy cannot change the government.\u201d Ages 11-up. (Feb.) -- Publishers Weekly, February 11, 2008, Awards and Praise for The Boy Who Dared :A YALSA Best Book for Young AdultsA Booklist Best Books for Young AdultsA Booklist Editors' ChoiceA 2009 Notable Book for a Global SocietyAn NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People * "The teen's perspective makes this a particularly gripping way to personalize the history, and even those unfamiliar with the background... will be enthralled by the story of one boy's heroic resistance in the worst of times... This is an important title for the Holocaust curriculum." -- Booklist , starred review"[An] inspiring tale of conscience and courage." -- Kirkus Reviews "Bartoletti offers another perspective on the Holocaust, demonstrating that even if the effort proves unsuccessful, the courage and convictions of a minority should be motivation to speak the truth rather than remain silent. It's a message that must be continually emphasized as a lasting legacy of the Holocaust." -- School Library Journal "A stirring tale of one young man's resistance to a government he came to regard as evil... The character development, based on research and interviews with those who knew Helmuth, is solid, and the author excels in creating a sense of immediacy in the setting. Her Nazi Germany is a place that is hauntingly familiar, enveloped in a government-fed sense of fear in this welcome addition to a body of literature begun with Anne Frank's diary." -- VOYA "Bartoletti accomplishes the seemingly impossible task of building dramatic tension in a story whose outcome we know from page one. Helmuth s questioning voice lives on in the pages of this compelling work." -- Cooperative Children's Book Center , recommended, Awards and Praise for The Boy Who Dared : A YALSA Best Book for Young Adults A Booklist Best Books for Young Adults A Booklist Editors' Choice A 2009 Notable Book for a Global Society An NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People * "The teen's perspective makes this a particularly gripping way to personalize the history, and even those unfamiliar with the background... will be enthralled by the story of one boy's heroic resistance in the worst of times... This is an important title for the Holocaust curriculum." -- Booklist , starred review "[An] inspiring tale of conscience and courage." -- Kirkus Reviews "Bartoletti offers another perspective on the Holocaust, demonstrating that even if the effort proves unsuccessful, the courage and convictions of a minority should be motivation to speak the truth rather than remain silent. It's a message that must be continually emphasized as a lasting legacy of the Holocaust." -- School Library Journal "A stirring tale of one young man's resistance to a government he came to regard as evil... The character development, based on research and interviews with those who knew Helmuth, is solid, and the author excels in creating a sense of immediacy in the setting. Her Nazi Germany is a place that is hauntingly familiar, enveloped in a government-fed sense of fear in this welcome addition to a body of literature begun with Anne Frank's diary." -- VOYA "Bartoletti accomplishes the seemingly impossible task of building dramatic tension in a story whose outcome we know from page one. Helmuth s questioning voice lives on in the pages of this compelling work." -- Cooperative Children's Book Center , recommended, In Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, Booklist's 2005 Top of the ListNonfiction for youth, Bartoletti included a portrait of Helmuth H bener, a German teenager executed for his resistance to the Nazis. In this fictionalized biography, she imagines his story, as he sits in prison awaiting execution in 1942 and remembers his childhood in Hamburg during Hitler's rise to power. Beaten and tortured to name his friends, he remembers how he started off an ardent Nazi follower and then began to question his patriotism, secretly listened to BBC radio broadcasts, and finally dared to write and distribute pamphlets calling for resistance. The teen's perspective, and makes this a particularly gripping way to personalize the history, and even those unfamiliar with the background Bartoletti weave in herethe German bitterness after World War I, the burning of the books, the raging anti-Semitismwill be held by story of one boy's heroic resistance in the worst of times. A lengthy author's note distinguishes fact from fiction, and Bartoletti provides a detailed chronology, a bibliography, and many black-and-white photos of Helmuth with friends, family and members of his Mormon church. The is an important title for the Holocaust curriculum.. See the Booklist interview with Bartoletti in the January 1, 2006 issue, in which she discusses how this teen's story moved her. - Hazel Rochman, Booklist, February 15, 2008, Returning to material she uncovered while researching Hitler Youth, Bartoletti offers a fictionalized biography of Helmuth Hübener, a Hamburg teenager who, in February 1942, was arrested for writing and distributing leaflets that denounced Hitler. Almost nine months later, on October 27, at the age of 17, Hübener was executed for treason. Opening her story on Hübener's last day, Bartoletti frames the work as third-person flashbacks, casting over the narrative a terrible sense of doom even as she escalates the tension. She does an excellent job of conveying the political climate surrounding Hitler's ascent to power, seamlessly integrating a complex range of socioeconomic conditions into her absorbing drama of Helmuth and his fatherless family. The author also convincingly shows how Helmuth originally embraces Hitler. His disillusionment seems to come a little too easily; American readers may wonder why Helmuth's reactions were not more common. But that question resolves itself as the author exposes the chilling gap between her own admiration for her subject and reflections, discussed in an afterword, from those who knew Helmuth, as in this comment from his older brother: "He should have known better than that.... A sixteen-year-old boy cannot change the government." Ages 11-up. (Feb.) - Publishers Weekly, February 11, 2008, In Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler\u2019s Shadow, Booklist\u2019s 2005 Top of the List-Nonfiction for youth, Bartoletti included a portrait of Helmuth H\u00fcbener, a German teenager executed for his resistance to the Nazis. In this fictionalized biography, she imagines his story, as he sits in prison awaiting execution in 1942 and remembers his childhood in Hamburg during Hitler\u2019s rise to power. Beaten and tortured to name his friends, he remembers how he started off an ardent Nazi follower and then began to question his patriotism, secretly listened to BBC radio broadcasts, and finally dared to write and distribute pamphlets calling for resistance. The teen\u2019s perspective, and makes this a particularly gripping way to personalize the history, and even those unfamiliar with the background Bartoletti weave in here-the German bitterness after World War I, the burning of the books, the raging anti-Semitism--will be held by story of one boy\u2019s heroic resistance in the worst of times. A lengthy author\u2019s note distinguishes fact from fiction, and Bartoletti provides a detailed chronology, a bibliography, and many black-and-white photos of Helmuth with friends, family and members of his Mormon church. The is an important title for the Holocaust curriculum.. See the Booklist interview with Bartoletti in the January 1, 2006 issue, in which she discusses how this teen\u2019s story moved her. -- Hazel Rochman, Booklist, February 15, 2008, Returning to material she uncovered while researching Hitler Youth, Bartoletti offers a fictionalized biography of Helmuth Hübener, a Hamburg teenager who, in February 1942, was arrested for writing and distributing leaflets that denounced Hitler. Almost nine months later, on October 27, at the age of 17, Hübener was executed for treason. Opening her story on Hübener's last day, Bartoletti frames the work as third-person flashbacks, casting over the narrative a terrible sense of doom even as she escalates the tension. She does an excellent job of conveying the political climate surrounding Hitler's ascent to power, seamlessly integrating a complex range of socioeconomic conditions into her absorbing drama of Helmuth and his fatherless family. The author also convincingly shows how Helmuth originally embraces Hitler. His disillusionment seems to come a little too easily; American readers may wonder why Helmuth's reactions were not more common. But that question resolves itself as the author exposes the chilling gap between her own admiration for her subject and reflections, discussed in an afterword, from those who knew Helmuth, as in this comment from his older brother: "He should have known better than that.... A sixteen-year-old boy cannot change the government." Ages 11-up. (Feb.) -- Publishers Weekly, February 11, 2008, In Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler\u2019s Shadow, Booklist\u2019s 2005 Top of the ListNonfiction for youth, Bartoletti included a portrait of Helmuth H\u00fcbener, a German teenager executed for his resistance to the Nazis. In this fictionalized biography, she imagines his story, as he sits in prison awaiting execution in 1942 and remembers his childhood in Hamburg during Hitler\u2019s rise to power. Beaten and tortured to name his friends, he remembers how he started off an ardent Nazi follower and then began to question his patriotism, secretly listened to BBC radio broadcasts, and finally dared to write and distribute pamphlets calling for resistance. The teen\u2019s perspective, and makes this a particularly gripping way to personalize the history, and even those unfamiliar with the background Bartoletti weave in herethe German bitterness after World War I, the burning of the books, the raging anti-Semitismwill be held by story of one boy\u2019s heroic resistance in the worst of times. A lengthy author\u2019s note distinguishes fact from fiction, and Bartoletti provides a detailed chronology, a bibliography, and many black-and-white photos of Helmuth with friends, family and members of his Mormon church. The is an important title for the Holocaust curriculum.. See the Booklist interview with Bartoletti in the January 1, 2006 issue, in which she discusses how this teen\u2019s story moved her. - Hazel Rochman, Booklist, February 15, 2008, Returning to material she uncovered while researching Hitler Youth, Bartoletti offers a fictionalized biography of Helmuth Hbener, a Hamburg teenager who, in February 1942, was arrested for writing and distributing leaflets that denounced Hitler. Almost nine months later, on October 27, at the age of 17, Hbener was executed for treason. Opening her story on Hbener's last day, Bartoletti frames the work as third-person flashbacks, casting over the narrative a terrible sense of doom even as she escalates the tension. She does an excellent job of conveying the political climate surrounding Hitler's ascent to power, seamlessly integrating a complex range of socioeconomic conditions into her absorbing drama of Helmuth and his fatherless family. The author also convincingly shows how Helmuth originally embraces Hitler. His disillusionment seems to come a little too easily; American readers may wonder why Helmuth's reactions were not more common. But that question resolves itself as the author exposes the chilling gap between her own admiration for her subject and reflections, discussed in an afterword, from those who knew Helmuth, as in this comment from his older brother: "He should have known better than that.... A sixteen-year-old boy cannot change the government." Ages 11-up. (Feb.) -- Publishers Weekly, February 11, 2008, In Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, Booklist's 2005 Top of the ListNonfiction for youth, Bartoletti included a portrait of Helmuth Hübener, a German teenager executed for his resistance to the Nazis. In this fictionalized biography, she imagines his story, as he sits in prison awaiting execution in 1942 and remembers his childhood in Hamburg during Hitler's rise to power. Beaten and tortured to name his friends, he remembers how he started off an ardent Nazi follower and then began to question his patriotism, secretly listened to BBC radio broadcasts, and finally dared to write and distribute pamphlets calling for resistance. The teen's perspective, and makes this a particularly gripping way to personalize the history, and even those unfamiliar with the background Bartoletti weave in herethe German bitterness after World War I, the burning of the books, the raging anti-Semitismwill be held by story of one boy's heroic resistance in the worst of times. A lengthy author's note distinguishes fact from fiction, and Bartoletti provides a detailed chronology, a bibliography, and many black-and-white photos of Helmuth with friends, family and members of his Mormon church. The is an important title for the Holocaust curriculum.. See the Booklist interview with Bartoletti in the January 1, 2006 issue, in which she discusses how this teen's story moved her. - Hazel Rochman, Booklist, February 15, 2008, In Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, Booklist's 2005 Top of the List-Nonfiction for youth, Bartoletti included a portrait of Helmuth Hübener, a German teenager executed for his resistance to the Nazis. In this fictionalized biography, she imagines his story, as he sits in prison awaiting execution in 1942 and remembers his childhood in Hamburg during Hitler's rise to power. Beaten and tortured to name his friends, he remembers how he started off an ardent Nazi follower and then began to question his patriotism, secretly listened to BBC radio broadcasts, and finally dared to write and distribute pamphlets calling for resistance. The teen's perspective, and makes this a particularly gripping way to personalize the history, and even those unfamiliar with the background Bartoletti weave in here-the German bitterness after World War I, the burning of the books, the raging anti-Semitism--will be held by story of one boy's heroic resistance in the worst of times. A lengthy author's note distinguishes fact from fiction, and Bartoletti provides a detailed chronology, a bibliography, and many black-and-white photos of Helmuth with friends, family and members of his Mormon church. The is an important title for the Holocaust curriculum.. See the Booklist interview with Bartoletti in the January 1, 2006 issue, in which she discusses how this teen's story moved her. -- Hazel Rochman, Booklist, February 15, 2008, Returning to material she uncovered while researching Hitler Youth, Bartoletti offers a fictionalized biography of Helmuth H\u00fcbener, a Hamburg teenager who, in February 1942, was arrested for writing and distributing leaflets that denounced Hitler. Almost nine months later, on October 27, at the age of 17, H\u00fcbener was executed for treason. Opening her story on H\u00fcbener's last day, Bartoletti frames the work as third-person flashbacks, casting over the narrative a terrible sense of doom even as she escalates the tension. She does an excellent job of conveying the political climate surrounding Hitler's ascent to power, seamlessly integrating a complex range of socioeconomic conditions into her absorbing drama of Helmuth and his fatherless family. The author also convincingly shows how Helmuth originally embraces Hitler. His disillusionment seems to come a little too easily; American readers may wonder why Helmuth's reactions were not more common. But that question resolves itself as the author exposes the chilling gap between her own admiration for her subject and reflections, discussed in an afterword, from those who knew Helmuth, as in this comment from his older brother: \u201cHe should have known better than that.... A sixteen-year-old boy cannot change the government.\u201d Ages 11-up. (Feb.) - Publishers Weekly, February 11, 2008, In Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, Booklist's 2005 Top of the List-Nonfiction for youth, Bartoletti included a portrait of Helmuth Hbener, a German teenager executed for his resistance to the Nazis. In this fictionalized biography, she imagines his story, as he sits in prison awaiting execution in 1942 and remembers his childhood in Hamburg during Hitler's rise to power. Beaten and tortured to name his friends, he remembers how he started off an ardent Nazi follower and then began to question his patriotism, secretly listened to BBC radio broadcasts, and finally dared to write and distribute pamphlets calling for resistance. The teen's perspective, and makes this a particularly gripping way to personalize the history, and even those unfamiliar with the background Bartoletti weave in here-the German bitterness after World War I, the burning of the books, the raging anti-Semitism--will be held by story of one boy's heroic resistance in the worst of times. A lengthy author's note distinguishes fact from fiction, and Bartoletti provides a detailed chronology, a bibliography, and many black-and-white photos of Helmuth with friends, family and members of his Mormon church. The is an important title for the Holocaust curriculum.. See the Booklist interview with Bartoletti in the January 1, 2006 issue, in which she discusses how this teen's story moved her. -- Hazel Rochman, Booklist, February 15, 2008, Returning to material she uncovered while researching Hitler Youth, Bartoletti offers a fictionalized biography of Helmuth H bener, a Hamburg teenager who, in February 1942, was arrested for writing and distributing leaflets that denounced Hitler. Almost nine months later, on October 27, at the age of 17, H bener was executed for treason. Opening her story on H bener's last day, Bartoletti frames the work as third-person flashbacks, casting over the narrative a terrible sense of doom even as she escalates the tension. She does an excellent job of conveying the political climate surrounding Hitler's ascent to power, seamlessly integrating a complex range of socioeconomic conditions into her absorbing drama of Helmuth and his fatherless family. The author also convincingly shows how Helmuth originally embraces Hitler. His disillusionment seems to come a little too easily; American readers may wonder why Helmuth's reactions were not more common. But that question resolves itself as the author exposes the chilling gap between her own admiration for her subject and reflections, discussed in an afterword, from those who knew Helmuth, as in this comment from his older brother: "He should have known better than that.... A sixteen-year-old boy cannot change the government." Ages 11-up. (Feb.) - Publishers Weekly, February 11, 2008
