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Summary
Summary
A Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Winner
At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: the boys' exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself, The Boys Who Challenged Hitler is National Book Award winner Phillip Hoose's inspiring story of these young war heroes.
This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.
Author Notes
Phillip Hoose is the author of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice , a National Book Award winner, a Newbery Honor Book, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, a YALSA Finalist for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. His other books include Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, also a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book; The Boys Who Challenged Hitler , a Sibert Honor and Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Winner; and We Were There, Too!, a National Book Award finalist. Mr. Hoose lives in Portland, Maine.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hoose (Moonbird) vividly recounts the true story of the courageous and brazen teens who inspired the Danish resistance movement in WWII. Angered and embarrassed by his nation's lack of opposition to the German invasion, 15-year-old Knud Pedersen, his older brother, and a few classmates formed the secret Churchill Club (named for the British prime minister they admired). For five months in 1942, club members committed daring acts of sabotage, often from their bikes and mostly in broad daylight ("Arson became our game. We took to carrying a small quantity of petrol with us... stuffing the canister in a school bag "). Hoose's narrative alternates with Pedersen's verbatim recollections (taken from a weeklong interview with him in 2012). Though readers initially may have trouble knowing when Pedersen's quotations end and the author's segues begin, this gripping story quickly gathers momentum, and the shifts between narrators flow smoothly. Archival photos break up the text, while an epilogue details what happened to each young resister after his imprisonment and the war's end. A bibliography and source notes conclude this inspiring account. Ages 12-18. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
This account of a little-known resistance movement in which Danish adolescents stood up to their Nazi occupiers is an outstanding addition to the WWII canon. In 1940, Germany invaded Denmark under the guise of friendship. While nearby Norway fought back against the Nazis, the Danish government let Hitler set up shop. Enter teenaged Knud Pedersen, who -- along with his brother Jens -- decided that if the adults would not act, we would. Knud and Jens joined up with some mates to form the Churchill Club (so named for the British prime minister). The group used civil disobedience to pester the Nazis, creating disturbances ranging from relatively restrained (switching German signs around, cutting enemy telephone lines) to positively dangerous (arson, stealing German firearms). These actions fired up Hitlers tame canary -- as Winston Churchill himself described Denmark -- leading to a larger-scale Danish revolt against the Germans, but Knud and his friends missed much of the excitement due to imprisonment (many for just a few months, Knud for over two years). To research the project, Hoose visited Pedersen in Copenhagen, conducting nearly twenty-five hours of interviews; the two men then exchanged some one thousand email messages. Hoose brilliantly weaves Pedersens own words into the larger narrative of Denmarks stormy social and political wartime climate, showing how the astonishing bravery of otherwise ordinary Danish teens started something extraordinary. A bibliography, notes, illustration credits, and index round out this essential title. sam bloom (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* When the Germans threatened to invade Denmark, the Danes capitulated with only token resistance on April 9, 1940, becoming an occupied country. This infuriated 15- and 16-year-old brothers Knud and Jens Pedersen, who formed a group of saboteurs and began cutting German telephone wires and defacing and reorienting directional signs. Just as they were making their presence felt, their family was relocated from Odense to Aalborg, where the two teens started a new group, called The Churchill Club in honor of the legendary British prime minister. Their story is one of bravery in the face of constant danger and of increasingly meaningful acts of sabotage, including stealing weapons and destroying important German assets. How long, the reader wonders, will they be able to elude capture? That question and others are answered in this tale of remarkable bravery and determination. Told in both the author's voice and that of Knud Pedersen himself (the latter culled from 25 hours of interviews and almost 1,000 e-mail exchanges), this has a compelling immediacy that is enhanced by a generous collection of black-and-white period photographs. An important and unforgettable book that adds a significant chapter to the history of WWII.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2015 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
HEROISM IS NOT in fashion right now. We prefer our heroes smudged and compromised; it's more comforting, less demanding. Yet two new nonfiction portraits of young people during World War II remind us that bravery, defiance and generosity of spirit are possible even in the direst circumstances. The heroism in Phillip Hoose's "The Boys Who Challenged Hitler" reads almost like a pulp-fiction tale of juvenile swashbuckling. Two groups of teenage Danes, outraged at their government's compliance with the demands of Denmark's Nazi occupiers, set out to sabotage the Germans. Their boyish plots quickly escalated from tagging walls with their anti-swastika symbol to blowing up a railway car filled with airplane wings. They carried out their work by bicycle, often striking during the day because they had to be home before supper. The group called itself the Churchill Club after Britain's prime minister, who had dismissed Denmark as "Hitler's tame canary." They wanted to prove Denmark was fiercer than he reckoned. Eventually, they were captured and imprisoned, but their work had been done: Inspired by these ninth graders, a powerful underground resistance movement formed. Astonishingly, some of the Churchill Club's members still contributed, slipping out of prison nightly to carry out sabotage. Hoose, a National Book Award winner, relies primarily on the testimony of Knud Pedersen, a founding Churchill Club member. Much of the story is told in Pedersen's own words, taken from interviews and a memoir. There is a striking immediacy to the telling. An adult can only admire the intoxicating, foolhardy brashness of the young as they slipped pistols out of Nazis' coat pockets or taught themselves about mortar grenades by disassembling one on the floor of an old monastery. "Ours was a war without fronts," Pedersen explains, "meaning the enemy was 360 degrees around us at all times." Pedersen was a gentile; an entirely different sort of danger surrounded young Michael Gruenbaum, confined to a Prague ghetto and then, for two years, to the "model" concentration camp, Terezin, where he escaped being sent to Auschwitz four times. The novelist Todd Hasak-Lowy has helped Gruenbaum reconstruct memories of this grim coming-of-age in "Somewhere There Is Still a Sun." (An afterword is explicit about the extent of reconstruction.) The book is written in a present tense that locks us in the moment with Gruenbaum as he watches the Nazis' mounting campaign against Czechoslovakia's Jews. Every time Michael thinks things can't get worse, more anti-Semitic strictures are introduced. "The rules just keep coming. We can't buy apples, we can't play the lottery, we can't ride in taxis.... Nothing's too small for them, nothing's too weird." Soon, Michael's father is arrested and murdered. Michael, his mother and his sister are sent to Terezin. Terezin has entered the annals of infamy as Hitler's showpiece, meant to convince international observers that the concentration camps were humane. A propaganda film showcased clean living spaces, calisthenic exercises and a thriving musical and artistic life behind its walls; young Michael played soccer and sang in Hans Krasa's children's opera "Brundibar," applauded by visiting dignitaries. It was an elaborate distraction, however; the Nazis periodically swept the residents off to the death camps. Anchoring Michael's story is a remarkable young man put in charge of his dormitory - Francis Maier, called Franta - who keeps up the spirits of the boys while alerting them to the dangers of acting out. His phenomenal intelligence and empathy are the marks of a forgotten hero. At the same time, Gruenbaum's mother struggles to keep the family alive. (We see the paperwork that laconically assigned the Gruenbaums to Auschwitz, then rescinded the order.) Told in straightforward, even prosaic language, this account will help young readers imagine themselves in the midst of the unimaginable - and will show them how kids much like them managed to survive. M.T. ANDERSON'S new book, "Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad," will be published this month.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-A group of Danish middle school boys, led by 15-year-old Knud Pedersen, decided to resist German occupation in Denmark despite the government's acceptance. Like soldiers, they were determined and disciplined, being careful not to blow their cover. Naming themselves the Churchill Club, they began by changing directional signs and cutting communication wires. Eventually they got their hands on grenades and started blowing up German cars. Organized but untrained, they stole rifles left unattended by German soldiers and began to kill Germans with their own weapons. The Churchill Club was eventually caught, tried, and imprisoned. Listeners will have to decide if what the boys did was justified or mischievous. Michael Braun's narration is well done. VERDICT Many students will be interested in this work of nonfiction that shows a different perspective of life during World War II.-Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A handful of Danish teens takes on the occupying Nazis is this inspiring true story of courageous resistance. Unlike Norway, which was also invaded on April 9, 1940, the Danish government did little to resist German occupation. Some teenagers, like 15-year-old Knud Pedersen, were ashamed of their nation's leaders and the adult citizens who passively accepted and even collaborated with the occupiers. With his older brother and a handful of schoolmates, Knud resolved to take action. Naming themselves the Churchill Club in honor of the fiery British prime minister, the young patriots began their resistance efforts with vandalism and quickly graduated to countless acts of sabotage. Despite the lack of formal organization and planning, this small band of teenagers managed to collect an impressive cache of weapons and execute raids that would impress professionally trained commandos. The Churchill Club was eventually captured and imprisoned by the Germans, but their heroic exploits helped spark a nationwide resistance movement. As he did in Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (2009), Hoose tells this largely unknown story with passion and clarity, providing exactly the right background information to contextualize events for readers. He makes excellent use of his extensive interviews with Pedersen, quoting him at length and expertly interweaving his words into the narrative to bring it alive. A superbly told, remarkable true story and an excellent addition to stories of civilian resistance in World War II. (photos, bibliography, chapter notes) (Nonfiction. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 3 |
| 1 OPROP! | p. 9 |
| 2 The RAF Club | p. 17 |
| 3 The Churchill Club | p. 25 |
| 4 Learning to Breathe | p. 39 |
| 5 Flames of Resistance | p. 45 |
| 6 To Arms | p. 53 |
| 7 Whipped Cream and Steel | p. 61 |
| 8 An Evening Alone | p. 71 |
| 9 The Nibe Offensive | p. 77 |
| 10 Grenades | p. 83 |
| 11 No Turning Back | p. 89 |
| 12 King Hans Gades Jail | p. 95 |
| 13 Walls and Windows | p. 107 |
| 14 At Large Again? | p. 117 |
| 15 Nyborg State Prison | p. 123 |
| 16 First Hours of Freedom | p. 137 |
| 17 Better on the Inside | p. 143 |
| 18 Our Evening with Mr. Churchill | p. 159 |
| Epilogue: The Times That Followed | p. 167 |
| Selected Bibliography | p. 177 |
| Notes | p. 181 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 191 |
| Illustration Credits | p. 193 |
| Index | p. 194 |
| Maps | |
| Denmark and Northern Europe: 1940 | p. 16 |
| Aalborg, Denmark, During the War | p. 24 |
| Holy Ghost Monastery | p. 28 |
