The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti #Bookreview

Title: The Boy Who Dared
Author:  Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published Date: February 1st 2008
Genre: WWII, Historical Fiction,
Page Count:202
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
A Newbery Honor Book author has written a powerful and gripping novel about a youth in Nazi Germany who tells the truth about Hitler

Bartoletti has taken one episode from her Newbery Honor Book, HITLER YOUTH, and fleshed it out into thought-provoking novel. When 16-year-old Helmut Hubner listens to the BBC news on an illegal short-wave radio, he quickly discovers Germany is lying to the people. But when he tries to expose the truth with leaflets, he's tried for treason. Sentenced to death and waiting in a jail cell, Helmut's story emerges in a series of flashbacks that show his growth from a naive child caught up in the patriotism of the times, to a sensitive and mature young man who thinks for himself.

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 My Review:

"He makes people afraid, that's what he does. It's bad, the things that can happen when people become afraid."

We get to see Helmuth grow up from a small child to a young man during Nazi Germany. Helmuth and his older brothers are being raised by their single mother and her parents. Until his mom meets a Nazi officer and falls in love with him, then things start getting rocky in the family. His brothers Hans and Gerhard don't get along with their new step-father and over time end up living with their grandparents. This causes Helmuth to not only feel alone at school but now at home as well.

Eventually, him and his friends Karl and Rudi end up teaming together to tell whats Germans armed forces are up to and how much propaganda they are really being told.

"We have the right to choose our own actions. If you choose to break the law to help someone else or keep someone from harm, then it's justified."

I really enjoyed this story. Helmuth tells us about his childhood and what led him to being imprisoned, and now how he is now spending his days. Helmuth took a lot of risks in doing what he did, but it was good resistance work, and if he hadn't of been caught I think he would have become a bigger part of the resistance because he really believed in what he was doing.
This is based on a real life young man and his friends, and the back of the book gives more info on them and what happened to his family after he was caught.