This book is so well done. The author manages to convey the conflicting emotions of a boy growing up in Germany as Hitler is coming to power and make it very believable and real. On the one hand, Helmuth is living a normal life with his mother and two older brothers, living next door to his Opa and Oma (grandfather and grandmother), and on the other hand, things are changing drastically around him. Hitler is elected Chancellor, and, in the name of national security, begins taking away freedoms, and persecuting people that Helmuth has known all his life. He can no longer go the bakery run by the Jewish man, or read books by non-German authors, or listen to any radio station except the German government's. Soon his mother is dating an SS officer, and Helmuth's home life changes as well. The story alternates between the present time, when Helmuth is in prison, and the past, where you learn what led up to his imprisonment. At the end of the book are photos of the real Helmuth and his family and friends, and a timeline of the Third Reich. Review by Stacy
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