interesting multigenerational story that's filled with emotion and intrigue. a worth it read for anyone into YA or WW2 stories.

I cannot wait to put this in my classroom library. I have a large number of students each year who love historical fiction. and WWII is always my most requested event to cover. I do not have anything currently about the Dutch resistance, so thank you to the author for providing materials for my kids to have a better understanding of diverse perspectives!

Code Name Kingfisher is a dual time novel set during WWII and during present day. Back in WWII, Mila and her sister, Hannie, are sent to live with another family as the Nazis begin to infiltrate the Netherlands. Hannie quickly becomes a part of the resistance forming a rift between her and Mila as she refuses to tell Mila what is going on. In present day, Liv is tasked with a project to find out more about her family tree. Liv decides to see if she can find out about Bubbe, her grandmother, and her dad's side of the family, but her family is not fond of talking about the past and Bubbe is struggling with dementia. Will Liv be able to find out more about her family? Will Mila ever discover why her sister keeps disappearing and why she won't tell her what she's doing? This is a great, but somewhat heartbreaking read about growing up as Jewish children during WWII. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for middle grades readers.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This terrific new middle grade fiction book bounces in time from the present to the 1940s and from the UK to Holland. It tells the story of Liv, a middle school girl struggling to make new friends since her best friend dumped her for more popular girls. When her grandmother comes to live with the family, Liv worries that her grandmother doesn't like her and won't talk to her, but a history project sends Liv into her grandmother's past and helps both of them come to terms with what happened long ago. It's a compelling and exciting read!

Wow. Just… wow. If I could this book more than five stars, I surely would.
Wonderful middle grade historical fiction about the Dutch Resistance during WW2. The story shifts between two settings, present day in the U.K., and 1940’s Amsterdam. The modern narrator is Liv, a pre-teen who is having trouble fitting in with her classmates. An assignment about family trees leads her to discover secrets about her grandmother’s past, that her “Bubbe” had been unwilling to discuss with anyone, until now.
This novel was absolutely amazing. It was even more special to read because in November of 2023, my husband and I were there, in Amsterdam, visiting the Resistance Museum, walking through the Anne Frank House, and seeing the “stolpersteines” that have been placed in front of many houses were the Jewish people were last free. We stood outside the theater which was used as a holding place for Jews before they were deported, and looked across the street at the building where the children were kept separated from their parents. And, thanks to the bravery of the Resistance workers, many of the children were smuggled out of there to safe places. Those two buildings have been turned into a Holocaust Museum, opening in March 2024. My husband and I are making plans to return there, in the near future.
This book will release in May 2024. I hope it will someday be in all classrooms, everywhere. I’ll buy a print copy the day it comes out!

Memorable Quotes:
“ The third child I collected affected me the most. She was the youngest of them all. No more than four years old, her name was Anneke. I collected her from Artis Zoo. She was hiding in the wolf enclosure. There are children living in the structures of the animals’ cages. Structures of metal keeping them alive. If there was ever an image to convey the brutality and cruelty of the Nazis who parade round our country as if they own it, it’s this. I will never forget the moment I led a four-year-old girl away from an animal enclosure-and I will never, ever forgive the people who made it necessary for her to hide there.”

This book follows two different time lines. We have present day that follows a young girl who has a grandma she doesn’t really understand. Her grandma is going into a home and that is when she discovers a trunk of her old things. Through this she learns about her grandma and great aunts involvement in the Dutch resistance to the nazis during WWII. We also follow the grandmas timeline in the 40s when these things happened.

This was a really good book about WWII, family, and loss. It has some heavy topics since it was a very difficult time in history. These topics are very important to learn about though. I loved the characters and the different timelines we follow throughout. The writing was great and it was a book I struggled to put down, it was so engaging!

I think a lot of kids will like this story. It is a hard topic but it is important for kids to learn about.

Thanks so much to netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Aladdin for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is a story set in two time periods as we learn about the history of Liz and her Bubbe. She discovers history she never knew about and goes on a journey to uncover it and learn more about her Bubbe before she gets worse.
This is an endearing tale of family and family history and how it shapes us.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Told in dual-timeline format, this story follows Liv in the modern day and her grandmother, Mila, as a child in World War 2 Holland. Liv and her grandmother have never been close, but as she begins a family tree project for her school, she discovers her grandmother's past and learns that she has more in common with her ancestors than she thought. There is a lot of great history tucked into these pages, teaching kids about the Dutch Resistance, the Holocaust, and how easily people can find themselves in situations they never dreamed would occur. Everything is told from an age-appropriate perspective, and this book would be appropriate for upper elementary and middle school.

13 year old Liv has a school project to learn about their family tree. While cleaning out her grandmother's attic, she finds a locked box and an usual picture. Through the letters and other mementos in the trunk, they learn that her grandmother's real name is Mila and she had a sister Eve. Flashback to her grandmother in 1942. Her parents send she and her sister to live with a family to keep them safe and pretend they are not Jewish. Her sister (code name Kingfisher) joins the Resistance, to make a difference. The book jumps back and forth from present day to the past. Liv learns why her grandmother doesn't talk about her past. The ending brings the story full circle and I didn't see it coming.

WOW!! This was quite a story!! I couldn't put it down and read it in 2 evenings. It had me cheering, screaming and crying. I highly recommend this book!!