Facing the Enemy by Barbara Krasner is a younger YA novel in verse that tells how two young American friends, one Jewish, one German, navigate the troubled times before the outbreak of World War II. Benjy and Tommy have a solid, unshakeable friendship filled with a cherry Cokes at Sol’s lunch counter and days spent at the park or preparing for the start of high school. When Tommy’s parents send him to Camp Nordland, a German summer camp that tries to replicate the rigor and discipline of the Hitler Youth, he turns against Benjy. As the war begins to take shape, Benjy fights his own war, certain that deep inside Tommy is the friend he knows, and he works to extricate Tommy from the brainwashing that has changed him. Tommy, or Thomas as he is known at camp, resists any outreaches, and eventually Benjy gives up, but when Tommy shows up at his door after running away from camp, both Benjy and Tommy have to decide what exactly they believe and how far they are willing to go to defend their beliefs.
Krasner has created realistic characters, no easy feat in the novel-in-verse format, and they have clear convictions, real, significant problems, and the highest stakes of all: friendship, safety, and loyalty. The blank verse form allows the story’s pace to ebb and flow effectively, giving time for character development and backstory while keeping the suspense rising toward the climax. Krasner skillfully weaves in elements of German and Jewish culture and tradition to create characters rooted in their own beliefs and traditions yet open to those of others. Thematically and through character development, the author has created an outstanding story that young YA readers will connect with and learn from.
This would be an excellent addition to a unit on World War II and the Holocaust. I can imagine using this as a student-choice selection for enrichment or as a small-group independent reading project to accompany such a unit.

Facing the Enemy is the story of two best friends, Benji and Tommy, who become divided because of their faith.

This story is written in verse and bounces between Benji's side and Tommy's side, an interesting way to tell this type of story.

I was impressed by the strength of these two young boys and what they both persevered through.

Thank you NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for the ARC.

A powerful, emotional, and searing look at how people can get easily swayed and how others can work to fight for what is right and true. A lesson in never giving up on friends and daring to speak truth to evil.

This book is very dumb. Conceptually it feels like it should be a good book, especially as we are still overrun with Nazis to this day in America, but it’s just really terrible poetry. It doesn’t feel like the way kids would talk, it has really stupid metaphors that don’t make any sense, and I don’t feel like it went anywhere.

This is a book that showed a part of history that is seldom talked about. Many Americans don't know about how many in the United States believed some of the Nazi propaganda. This book shows of a German American family that was swept up in the fervor of German Nationalism and the friend that watched it, saw it happening and tried to change his friend's mind. I like learning about historic events that don't always make the history books. This book gave me insight into how something so small, like pride in your heritage can become a dangerous thing. It was a well written story that I loved. Although it was not a happy story, it was entertaining as it took me on an emotional journey that had me, wishing like his friend, that it would all turn out in the end. I would recommend this book!

Facing the Enemy is the story of two young boys who are divided by the Nazi movement in the US. Benjy is a Jewish boy and his best friend, Tommy, is German. Tommy's father joins the German American Bund and sends Tommy to a Nazi camp at the beginning of summer where he is radicalized into a Nazi youth. When he returns to school the next year, we see how much this has destroyed the friendship between Tommy and Benjy. We see what is happening on both sides of this divide with their parents and those surrounding them.

This was a very creative way to tell the story of the American Nazis. This book felt like a combination of the book The White Rose and the TV series The Plot Against America. I really think this would be an interesting book for any student who was interested in the time period and wanted to learn more about what was happening in the US at that time.

Set in Newark, NJ in the 1930's, Benjy, a Jewish boy and Tommy, a German boy are friends. Everything changes when Tommy is sent to a Nazi youth camp for German Americans where he learns Jews are the enemy.

Benjy forms an anti-Nazi group and hopes everyone can eventually get along.

An interesting look at America in the 1930's
Novel in verse format
Must read!!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Astrahousebooks for accepting my request for an ARC of this book!
3.5/5

I loved reading this book. I am a huge WWII fan so I will read almost anything on the topic. My favorite thing about this book was how the author showed a side of WWII that I don't hear of often. The struggle between the two characters as well as the way the book portrays how some kids have total trust in their parents, where they will go along with whatever they say, even if it doesn't make since in their minds yet what something truely means. Reading about Benji and Thomas's sides of this story made it even more emotional, for they both still longed for how it use to be. I enjoyed seeing how time progressed in this book and how it affected the two characters, along with the epilogue in the end.