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Summer Of My German Soldier
By Bette Greene

Have you ever been in a situation where you helped a stranger? Patty Bergen does in Summer Of My German Soldier. Patty, a young Jewish girl from Arkansas who helps a Nazi after his escape from a prisoner of war camp during World War 2. What will happen when her secret is exposed? You will have to read this book. If you like books with mystery, action, and is a total page turner? If you answer yes read Summer Of My German Soldier.

Review by Gabrielle

This book is located in the library

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Number The Stars
By Lois Lowry

Some people in the world take life for granted but no one knows the suffering that the Jews went through in World War II. Just think, living your life in fear everyday - not knowing if the Germans were going to kill you or take you to a concentration camp. People had to hide in any place possible, places like a secret annex or underneath floors. Some people even hid out side in the woods. In this story, even though the Rosens hid a little bit differently, I am sure that they lived in fear every day.

When the Germans get hold of the list of Jews from the synagogues Mr. and Mrs. Rosen have to run for their lives. When fleeing they leave their daughter, Ellen, with the Johansens. During Ellen’s first night there the Germans come looking for the Rosens. The only way the Johansens could disguise Ellen was by insisting that she was Lise Johansen. Lise was the Johansen’s oldest daughter who had been killed a few years before. They almost got caught with family pictures but they took out Lise’s baby picture. The Germans finally gave up arguing and ripped up the pictures.

A few days later Mrs. Johansen, her daughter Annemarie, and Ellen went to a town near Sweden where Mrs. Johansen’s brother, Hendrick, lived. Mr. Johansen stayed behind so the Germans would not think that they were fleeing and trying to help their Jewish friends, the Rosens. After staying with Henrick for a while. Ellen was able to see her parents too. They were pretty happy living there, but they knew they had to find a way to get out of there because the Germans were going to start looking for them again. Henrick had a little compartment underneath the floorboards inside his boat that he was going to use to hide the Rosen family. Although it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounds, Germans often checked boats for Jews hiding. All of a sudden the Germans came up to Hendrik’s boat and…?

Read the book to find out what happens to the Rosen family.

Review by Robin

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
By Raold Dahl

This story starts when a young boy wins a ticket to Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. He takes his grandfather with him. As they get there they sign a simple policy. Then they head off. First Willie Wonka makes them walk into a small room with only one door out. Then he starts to knock on the walls. A door opens that leads to a different place. In this room they find wallpaper that tastes just like real fruit. After they walk around for a little bit, they come to a room completely covered in candy. There are candy trees with gummy bears in them, candy mushrooms, and even a chocolate river.

As they walk through the factory many kids do not follow the rules and have to be taken away. Charlie and his grandfather don’t break many rules but they do drink bubbles that can make you float. By the end of the book Charlie and his grandfather are the only ones left. The contest with the tickets was to see who could run the factory when Willie Wonka retired. In the beginning Charlie was told he could not run the factory. Later Charlie passed the test with flying colors so he could become the new owner of the factory.

Does Charlie except the factory or does he want to live the way he does right now? Read the book and you will find out what Charlie decides. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have!

Review by Christa

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The Face On The Milk Carton
By Caroline B. Cooney

It all started when fifteen-year-old Janie Johnson looked at the face of a girl on the back of the milk carton. The girl had been kidnapped twelve years before from a shopping mall in New Jersey. All of a sudden Janie realized she was the girl on the back of the milk carton. She couldn’t figure out why her loving parents would kidnap her. Janie knew her parents had never taken any baby pictures of her, but they told her that they just didn’t get around to getting a camera.

That afternoon when Janie got home she went through the attic to see if there was anything that might have been hers as a baby. She searched forever but all she found was some dirty old things that were of no importance. Then she came upon a big trunk marked with a “H”. She had to find out what was inside so she pried the lock opened and shoveled everything around. She gasped. The dress that the girl on the milk carton was wearing was inside the box. Then she saw tons of pictures and old school papers that had the name Hannah all over them.

A few days later she came clean and asked her mother about all of the things in the attic. Her mother told her that she used to have another daughter named Hannah, but Hannah got involved with bad people, so to protect the family the government changed their last name to Johansen. It was very painful because they knew that they could never see Hannah again.

Janie still wasn’t satisfied. She had to know about the girl on the milk carton. She called the number on the milk carton. The people told her the address of the family. She got one of her friends to drive there with her, but she could not bring herself to knock on the door. Instead, they just drove by. Finally Janie built up courage to talk to her mother about the girl on the milk carton. Then her mother told her about Hannah, who brought Janie to them when she was about three years old. They thought Hannah got pregnant and just thought it would be safer if Janie came to live with them. Janie told them about the dress in the attic and how it matched the same one in the picture of the little girl on the milk carton.

After talking Janie’s parents thought that the girl on the carton might be her. So they called the house of the missing girl. Then they all drove down to meet family. If you want to find out the rest of the story, you’ll have to read the book. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

Review by Robin

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