Don't tell the Nazis A novel

Gr 5 Up--Following up on earlier titles such as Making Bombs for Hitler and Stolen Girl, Skrypuch again crafts an evocative story based on real events. Krystia, around 12 years old, is living under Soviet occupation in a small Ukrainian village in 1941. When the Germans arrive, the townspeople are initially celebratory, anticipating that their lives will improve, but their hopes are soon dashed. Krystia is not Jewish, but she and her family are horrified as their Jewish neighbors begin to be persecuted. When more German people arrive in the village, Krystia learns about the varying levels of classification used by the Nazis. The "Master Race" consists of Aryans, Germans, and Volksdeutsche. Anyone else, including Ukrainians, are considered "lesser" or subhuman, with Jewish people at the bottom of the list. Many Jewish villagers are killed outright, while Krystia's family slowly starves as they are forced to give their food and livestock to the Volksdeutsche settlers. When a Nazi commander discovers hidden Jews in Krystia's home, her mother is killed for the crime, and Krystia is forced to flee. The relative isolation of the rural setting and the Ukrainian point of view set this novel apart from the majority of World War II accounts, and Krystia is believable as a young girl forced into heroism by extraordinary circumstances. VERDICT A harrowing, suspenseful follow-up for readers of Skrypuch's earlier books or Ruta Sepetys's Between Shades of Gray.--Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond

Liberated from the Soviets by the Nazis: Frying pan, meet fire.When the German army marches into Krystia's Ukrainian town, everyone greets the soldiers as liberators. Kind Mrs. Segal, ethnically Ukrainian Krystia's Jewish neighbor, takes a lovely photograph of Krystia flinging a flower into the air as they celebrate their rescuers. The local Poles, Jews, and Ukrainians (considered ethnic groups at the time, not nationalities or religions, as Krystia makes quite clear) are perhaps excessively nave about the goodwill of the invading Germans, as seen through Krystia's optimistic eyes. But that hope is soon shattered, as the Nazis, like the Soviets before them, take any property they desire and hold human life cheap. Ukrainians and Poles are wretched subhumans to the Nazis, unfit for schooling or any life but laborbut that's nothing on how they treat the local Jews. On a trumped-up charge, the Nazi commandant arrests 101 Jewish men and has them shot. Krystia sees her neighbors buried in a mass grave and their meager clothing given to ethnic German interlopers. Shockingly, the situation only deteriorates from there, as the Nazis execute their solution to the "Jewish Question." The first-person account, based on the real-life Krystia's memories as told to Skrypuch, reads like a memoir; despite the historically accurate body count, it retains a sense of hope.An accessible entry in a crowded, vital field, honoring those who risked everything to save others. (historical note) (Historical fiction. 9-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.