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Summary
Summary
This companion novel to Skrypuch's Making Bombs for Hitler follows a boy who joins the underground Ukrainian resistance in the fight against Hitler.The Nazis took Luka from his home in Ukraine and forced him into a labor camp. Now, Luka has smuggled himself out -- even though he left behind his dearest friend, Lida. Someday, he vows, he'll find her again.But first, he must survive.Racing through the woods and mountains, Luka evades capture by both Nazis and Soviet agents. Though he finds some allies, he never knows who to trust. As Luka makes difficult choices in order to survive, desperate rescues and guerilla raids put him in the line of fire. Can he persevere long enough to find Lida again or make it back home where his father must be waiting for him?Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, author of Making Bombs for Hitler , delivers another action-packed story, inspired by true events, of daring quests and the crucial decisions we make in the face of war.
Author Notes
MARSHA FORCHUK SKRYPUCH is a Ukrainian Canadian author acclaimed for her nonfiction and historical fiction, including Making Bombs for Hitler ( Faire des bombes pour Hitler ), The War Below ( Soldat clandestin ), Stolen Child ( Enfant volée,et ), and Don't Tell the Enemy ( Ne dis rien l'ennemi ). Marsha lives in Brantford, Ontario, and you can visit her online at www.calla.com.
.Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this compelling work of historical fiction, Skrypuch (Making Bombs for Hitler) conveys the brutality faced by European citizens caught between the Soviets and the Nazis during World War II. In a frank, unflinching voice, Luka recounts being forced from his Ukrainian village to work in a Nazi labor camp, which he escapes by hiding in a truck full of corpses. Luka travels cross-country on foot, hoping to return to Kiev to find his pharmacist father, whose lessons in natural medicine ("You have the tools to heal yourself") help him survive. Eventually, he finds himself in an underground hospital run by the Ukrainian Red Cross. Haunted by flashbacks from 1941, when residents of Kyiv were brutalized first by the communist secret police and then by the Nazis, Luka joins the Ukrainian Insurgent Army: "As long as you're willing to stand up to Stalin and Hitler, you can work with us." The youthful innocence of Luka's narration, despite the numerous atrocities, losses, and betrayals he experiences, underscores the inherent risks of choosing trust and hope. This story, full of numerous acts of compassion and valor, sheds welcome light on a less familiar battleground of World War II. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
During the Soviet/Nazi conflict to control Kiev, Luka was sent to work at a labor camp. As this companion to Making Bombs for Hitler begins, he escapes and later joins the Ukrainian underground resistance. Based on actual World War II events, Skrypuch weaves a tale of suspense, highlighting Luka's courage and ingenuity as he searches for his parents and is eventually reunited with friend Lida. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
After escaping from a Nazi slave labor camp, all 13-year-old Luka Barukovich wants to do is to get back to his home in Kyiv, Ukraine, in this sequel to Skrypuch's Making Bombs for Hitler (2017)."You have the tools to heal yourself," Luka's pharmacist father used to say, and this wisdom and his resourcefulness help him navigate his way through a kindly couple's farm, a long journey through mountainous German terrain, and a stint in the (literally) underground Ukrainian Insurgent Army, not to mention two displaced persons camps and a misguided return to the Soviet zone after the war. So determined is he to survive that at one point Luka even kills a Nazi soldier. After the war, Luka searches doggedly for his beloved work-camp friend, Lida, as well as his parents. Skrypuch continues to shed light on the double jeopardy that many Ukrainians experienced: first mandated to work in dangerous German munitions factories under Nazi control, only then to be forced postwar to repatriate under Stalin's rule, where anyone who "allowed themselves" (as it's put with heavy irony in the author's note) to be captured by the Nazis was considered a traitor. The subject matter is powerful and grows occasionally quite intense.A page-turning window into a complex piece of World War II history. (Historical fiction. 8-12)
Booklist Review
Readers first meet Luka, a preadolescent Ukrainian boy, as he is escaping from a German forced-labor camp during WWII. But freedom is tenuous as he struggles to survive as a fugitive in a landscape that is, at turns, under Soviet and German control. Fighting is everywhere, but Luka is determined to return to his hometown of Kyiv (Kiev), hoping ultimately to be reunited with his family. In imminent danger, however, he is rescued by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Joining them, he becomes a medic but, stubbornly, never gives up hope of returning home. He also dreams of being reunited with his friend from the labor camp, a girl named Lida. Will any of these dreams come true? Will he survive the war? Skrypuch offers a compelling, visceral novel of survival that provides an unusual view of the war and the almost legendary Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The book would have benefited from a map it's hard to follow Luka's trek but the suspenseful story carries the reader along to its satisfying conclusion.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2018 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
My eyes flew open but my arms and legs refused to move. Where was I? The star-peppered sky loomed huge above me. One of the stars grew bigger and brighter and that's when I truly woke up. It was heading right for me. My muscles screamed as I rolled off the road and fell down into a ditch. The ground shook as the bomb hit, frighteningly close. Ignoring the pain, I pulled myself onto my feet. Where I had lain just seconds ago was now a smoking pit. A bigger bomb landed somewhere in the distance, lighting up the farmers' fields and a patchwork of familiar factories up ahead. Another white explosion on the road. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground. What madness had made me escape? Yes, it had been harsh at the labor camp, and yes, people like me who were given the worst jobs rarely survived. But my friend Lida was back there. Maybe I should have stayed in the hospital. Maybe they wouldn't have killed me. Poor Lida. Even though she had urged me to go, I felt like such a bad friend for deserting her. She thought of me as her big brother Luka and I loved her with all my heart. Was she sleeping safe in her barracks right now? I hoped that she would understand why I had no choice. Josip hadn't been badly injured, yet the care he received hadn't made him any better. I didn't trust them at the hospital. So when the chance came for me to get out, I had to do it. Maybe Lida would escape somehow as well. Surely the war would end soon, and I had to get back to Kyiv to find my father. I'd walk the whole way there if I had to. Excerpted from The War Below by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
