Not too many books tell about World War II from the German side but this story follows a little girl and her family in East Prussia after Hitler loses the war and the Russians take over, pillaging as they go. It’s about the grays of war, the impossible choices you must make to survive, and how love wins. When Liesl and her siblings are separated from their mother, they survive by stealing and foraging, sometimes in the woods and sometimes in a borrowed home–until the Russians find it. Their story is harrowing and thought-provoking and ultimately, amazing. Plus, it’s based on real German children who fled into the forests of Eastern Europe and became known as Wolfskinder.

What a wonderful, fantastic book! The story is so gripping and beautifully written that it was hard to put down once it picked up speed. In the beginning, I thought some of the writing seemed a bit stilted, almost like a slightly awkward translation (actually checked to see if it was a translation), but I suppose this also helped with the feeling that the story took place in a different time and country, and once I became totally engrossed, I stopped noticing this. I liked that it drove home the point that war is hell on everyone and that the drive to survive makes people, even children, do things they would not ordinarily do, and that there are good and bad people on all sides. I would definitely recommend this to more mature middle grade readers, but it's the type of book, like "The War That Saved My Life," that is so excellent that adult readers will love it too. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this extraordinary, highly recommended book.

I read an ARC of this title through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This is a well-written, engaging, scary, heart-breaking tale about the ravages of War. Although it lays bear the horrors of war, it does so in an age-appropriate way. We see the Wolfe children gradually become more wild while still trying to hold onto their identity as good German children. As is often true in life many little compromises must be made along the way. I really enjoyed the story of survival and the children's struggle. My biggest reservation about the book is how little is mentioned about the Holocaust. In this day of misinformation and Holocaust denial it feels dangerous to have a book about World War II that fails to mention it. Perhaps an expanded introduction or endnote could add more to the historical context.

It is hard to put into words how good this children's historical fiction book was. This is one of those titles that is going to stick with me for a long time. If you are even on the fence about reading it, do it! The cover drew me in, but the story absolutely held my intrigue until the very end. It managed to teach me something about world war II that I had no idea about and it does it in a delicate way to teach other children. I can see this being mandatory reading in classrooms in the future like the title Number the Stars. Though the characters are fictional, I believe they represent the true victims of this tragedy well. Very sad but so good to read and a pleasure to learn from!