The Boy Who Dared

by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Summary: Helmuth is a German boy growing up during the rise of the Nazi regime. As Hitler's noose on the German people gets tighter and tighter, and they get closer and closer to war, Helmuth begins to rebel against the rules he feels the German government is recklessly placing on its people. They are not allowed to listen to anything but German broadcasts on the radio, but Helmuth takes a chance, and illegally begins to listen to a BBC (British) broadcast. From the BBC, he finds that things are not really as Hitler would have the Germans believe, and that the Nazis are lying to the people to advance their own causes. He will pay an unthinkable price to stand up for his beliefs.

My thoughts: This book literally made my stomach hurt. It's a fictionalization of a real event, which means that the major events are all true and documented. Knowing that this young man actually had to live through the fear and torture described in this novel is so very, very sad. His courage to stand up for what was right makes him a hero. The real photos of Helmuth and his friends are an interesting addition to the book.