A Novel of World War II by Alan Gratz

READING QUIZZES

Read time- 7-8 hrs
(RwC)- Recommended with Caution
(C)- Content –Peer Bullying, Fighting, Spying, Theft, Moderate Detail of Violence, PopCulture Language

This is Fiction– Similar to the twists and turns of The Hardy Boys or The Box Car Children.

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Did They Really Read the Book?

Good Vocab Words (Oxford)

zealot –noun —a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals

proboscis –noun —the nose of a mammal or an elongated sucking mouthpart that is typically tubular and flexible. (used to described the tubular anti-air gun)

Recurring Themes

Nationalism
Personal sacrifice for greater good
deception/misrepresentation

Can your reader talk about these events? (3 mini-sagas…)

=====================Saga 1====================

Projekt 1065 is the code name for a new Nazi Fighter Jet project
Michael’s Father is the Irish Ambassador to Germany and stationed in Berlin at the height of WW2.
Michael and his family are also undercover informants/spies for the Allied Forces

Sent to Germay to uncover a Nazi assassination plan on an allied scientist working on the Manhattan Project

Michael is part of Hitler’s Youth
On mission, Michael is the first to find a recently downed RAF pilot (Simon) and makes it his goal to return Simon home

Simon suffered a sprained ankle and wounded arm in the crash
Simon was on a recon mission looking for evidence of Projekt 1065

=====================Saga 2====================

Michael learns that the dad of another in Hitler’s Youth, (Fritz), works on the Projekt 1065 and has blueprints
Simon helps Michael hone his photographic memory in order to memorize Projekt 1065 blueprints
Series of events happen hours before Michael was supposed to escort Simon to his secret drop-off location to return home

Allied Air Raids force Michael’s Hitler Youth Squad to man the guns

Michael and his team shoot down a Bomber
Michael sabotages the aim settings to prevent another Allied casualty and is confronted by a witness who saw him
**Graphic** The witness intends to kill Michael for his treason, but is suddenly ripped apart from falling shrapnel

The Edelweiss Army (a resistance youth-group) ambush Michael and his team while they’re in shock from losing their comrade.

==================Saga 3====================

Michael pieces together previous conversations, while talking to his parents, to reveal the following:

The Allied Scientist is attending a science summit in Switzerland to recruit international help
The Hitler Youth are going to attend the summit posing as science enthusiasts in order to kill the scientist

Michael needs to earn a spot on the assassination trip and does so, by turning in Simon and his parents to the Nazi authorities.

Simon chooses to sacrifice himself to save the scientist
Michael’s family fled the night before ahead of Michael’s confessions to the SS

Michael finds the scientist at the conference and goes through a series of events to save him

Alerts Swiss authorities of bomb on premises
Fights his comrades after they confront him
Finds the scientist again and tries to escape via gondola car down the mountain
Learns that Fritz has the Bomb on top of their gondola car
Fritz drops the bomb case trying to save Michael from falling off the car
Explosion triggers and avalanche and Fritz dies

Michael goes to the Irish Embassy with the scientist and is reunited with his parents

Debriefed and works with agents to redraw Project 1065 blueprints
Finally, given new assignment in Washington, DC

Final Notes

Parental Word of Caution-

[This is a kid’s version of Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk….]

Projekt 1065 glorifies physical altercations and fighting for dominance and hierarchy. So much so, that it warrants caution with impressionable minds- You could find your kids fighting, boxing, or punching things as the fight scenes in the book were descriptive, high-adrenaline, and successful in garnering praise and recognition to the victor.

The main character also is also encouraged to spy, sneak, snoop, and steal. In context, war-time espionage gave (and gives) us a leg up against an adversary and affords us inside knowledge on plans, operations, etc. Remove that behavior from its context of a WW2 setting though, and it’s the kind of heroic influence that can leads to trouble if left on unguided.

Read the Authors Afterword

It helps to place the book on the entertainment-academic scale. The most historically accurate attribute of the book is the setting itself, the acknowledgement of Hitler’s Youth, and the understanding that Hitler’s Youth participated in various offensive-defensive campaigns. Ireland too, was truly presumed neutral, but covertly gathered intelligence for Allies- and that’s where Michael fits in…