The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II (Operation Kinderspion series) by Adam Gidwitz Dutton Books for Young Readers (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rachel Aronowitz Buy at Bookshop.org Twelve year old Max is sent away from his loving parents and his home in Germany to England, along with thousands of other Jewish children, as part of the kindertransport, but he doesn't want to go. Max is a brilliant and resilient child and he will do whatever it takes to get back to his parents. As a kindertransport refugee, he is placed with a wealthy Jewish foster family in London who happen to have connections to British Naval Intelligence. Right away, Max has the idea that if he can somehow become a spy for the British, he can be reunited with his parents in Germany. It's also worth noting that Max is walking around with two supernatural creatures; a dybbuk named Stein and a kobold named Berg, living on his shoulders, who act as a bit of

Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis by K.R. Gaddy Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Beth L. Gallego Drawing on memoirs, oral histories, and Gestapo archives, this rigorously-researched volume focuses on Fritz, Gertrud, and Jean, children growing up in and around Cologne during the 1930s and early 1940s. All of them were working class, and none of them were Jewish: Gertrud’s father was arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp for Communist activities, and Jean’s father, aunt, and grandmother were also arrested for Communist affiliations. Through a tight focus on these three individuals, Gaddy brings to life a larger story of resistance with which many readers will be unfamiliar. Fritz, Gertrud, and Jean were among hundreds of teenagers who found refuge in local groups called Edelweiss Pirates. They enjoyed singing, hiking, and camping in the nearby mountains, following the model of earlier Bündische Jugend (“fre