The War Below
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
