German planes roared through the sky dropping bombs that fell with shattering explosions. Maz grabbed Zena’s hand and ran for the swamp. But then came the biggest explosion of all, the force of which ripped Max away from Zena and sent him flying through the air. He landed in a ditch, was he still alive?
Like the other entries in this series, this book will grab readers and pull them into the action before they realize what is happening. In a Polish ghetto, Max Rosen and his sister Zena are starving and reach outside the barbed wire for some berries. This causes a German soldier to notice them and pursue them. When Zena acts quickly to save Max from being shot, they escape into the forest of Poland with little thought to how they are going to survive the next hour. One dangerous encounter after another brings them into the thick of the action when the Germans retaliate after a partisan bombing. And the reader is left to wonder of Max and Zana can survive the fallout of the Nazi invasion. Readers of the series will enjoy this latest installment. Tarshis makes the best use of her ninety pages to whet the reader’s appetite for more information about the larger events of the war and the partisan fighters.
978-0545459389 Ages 8-11 approx. 90 pages
Tags: Poland, resistance fighters, ghetto
Recommended by: Alice Cyphers, Librarian, Pennsylvania USA