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The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club

Review

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club

It’s 1940, the dawn of World War II. Demark is under German attack. Very few are fighting back, taking a stand or doing anything other than watching on the sidelines and seeing disaster unfold. Knud Pedersen is 15 years old, and he will not fall without a fight.

Pedersen got a group together, and anyone who was willing to prove that they stood for Denmark’s freedom was gladly accepted. Their mission? Sabotage. They destroyed Nazi vehicles with homemade explosives, stole German weapons and tagged their city with messages of resistance.

"While the Denmark of THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER may not be Panem (The Hunger Games) or Dauntless headquarters (Divergent), it might as well be…You forget that you’re reading nonfiction."

The group of young men --- most no older than 15 --- started a movement to prove their worth to anyone who stood against them, and they became a symbol of Danish pride. At their peak, they were loved by proud locals and despised by Axis sympathizers. They were the superheroes fighting for freedom in their own way. They looked the enemy right in the eye and proved that they weren’t afraid. It’s because of people like them that history played out the way it did, and the world is forever grateful.

While the Denmark of THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER may not be Panem (The Hunger Games) or Dauntless headquarters (Divergent), it might as well be. The action and danger keep the pages turning, making it impossible to put down. The most amazing part? It’s all real. You forget that you’re reading nonfiction.Gone are the boring history lectures and monotone textbooks. This isn’t a research paper, it’s an adventure.

Told in alternating accounts from Pedersen and notes from the author, THE BOYS WHO CHALLENGED HITLER is an underdog story that you won’t want to miss.

Reviewed by Lexibex V., Teen Board Member on May 20, 2015

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club
by Phillip Hoose

  • Publication Date: May 12, 2015
  • Genres: History, Nonfiction, Young Adult 12+
  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
  • ISBN-10: 0374300224
  • ISBN-13: 9780374300227