Scholastic My Brother's Secret
42 ratings
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Price: £6.99
Brand: Scholastic
Description: Like all boys his age, Karl Friedmann is looking forward to joining the Hitler Youth. But when his father is killed and his older brother tells him things that leave his faith in the Fuhrer shaken, he follows him in a dangerous rebellion. Scholastic My Brother's Secret - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Scholastic
Product ID: 93053
ISBN: 9781909489035
Author: Jacob Plunkdaby
Rating: 5
Review: MA BRITHER WIS A TOERAG ! HE THOCHT NAEBODY KENNT WHIT HE WIS UP TAE BUT AH TELLT THEM. WHEN HE WIS AT THE SCHOOL HE USED TAE RUN THROUGH THE LASSIES LAVVY AN' SHOUT SWEARY WORDS AN' THE LASSIES GOT FEART SO AH TELLT A' THEIR BIG BRITHERS AN' THAE A' KICKED HIS ARSE. HE NEVER DONE THAT AGAIN AN' WHEN HE LEFT THE SCHOOL HE BECAME A POLIS !! MEE..MAW..MEE..MAW..MEE MAW !!!
Author: Secret Spi
Rating: 4
Review: "My Brother's Secret" is an action-packed and thought-provoking adventure story set near Cologne, Germany in 1941. (Warning: slight spoiler) 12-year-old Karl is an real eager-beaver of the junior section of the Hitler Youth when we meet him. Karl's older brother, Stefan, appears at first glance to be a typical long-haired moody teenager but turns out to be a member of a youth resistance movement. Their father is away fighting in Russia, but news of his death precipitates a change in Karl's way of thinking. This is a well-written story that keeps you turning the pages. You really feel as if you're with Karl, not just in the action and experiences of wartime, but also in the conflicting emotions - loyalty to family and loyalty to the Führer, friendship and loss. Although writing from the point of view of a young Nazi sympathiser (initially) could have backfired, I felt that this was an effective way of showing young readers today how so many people, young and old, supported this regime. In this, the book has some parallels with Paul Dowswell's "Ausländer" - another good novel on this theme for slightly older readers. I did wonder if the story could have been even more effective if the main villain had been one of Stefan's peers but in the Hitler Youth, rather than the rather cliched Gestapo man, and there were a few moments towards the end of the story where I questioned the credibility, but then again, I'm middle-aged, not in the target readership, so what do I know? Overall, it's a cracking story for readers of 9+ and stands right up there with Robert Westall's "Machine Gunners".
