3.5
Winter in Wartime
ByPublisher Description
A teen boy supports the underground resistance of Nazi-occupied Netherlands in this thrilling WW2 historical fiction novel for kids ages 10-15.
This “harrowing and well-plotted” Dutch classic is based on the author’s own childhood in Holland during World War II (Wall Street Journal).
It’s the winter of 1944-45, and Michiel’s country has been at war since he was 11. Now he’s 15, and his country is under Nazi occupation, including the town where Michiel lives and where his father is the mayor. No longer able to attend school, Michiel spends his days running urgent errands on his bicycle, avoiding Allied bombers and German soldiers alike. Then one day, his friendship with Dirk—the neighbor’s older son and a member of the secret underground—involves him in the care of a wounded British pilot. When a German soldier is found murdered and the townspeople are blamed for his death, Michiel’s already-risky mission turns life-threatening.
Winter in Wartime has never been out of print in the Netherlands since it was first published nearly 50 years ago. Based on the author’s own boyhood in wartime Holland, the action and adventure of Michiel’s mission makes for a gripping read, while the anguish of his experience underscores the ultimate anti-war tenor of the novel.
This “harrowing and well-plotted” Dutch classic is based on the author’s own childhood in Holland during World War II (Wall Street Journal).
It’s the winter of 1944-45, and Michiel’s country has been at war since he was 11. Now he’s 15, and his country is under Nazi occupation, including the town where Michiel lives and where his father is the mayor. No longer able to attend school, Michiel spends his days running urgent errands on his bicycle, avoiding Allied bombers and German soldiers alike. Then one day, his friendship with Dirk—the neighbor’s older son and a member of the secret underground—involves him in the care of a wounded British pilot. When a German soldier is found murdered and the townspeople are blamed for his death, Michiel’s already-risky mission turns life-threatening.
Winter in Wartime has never been out of print in the Netherlands since it was first published nearly 50 years ago. Based on the author’s own boyhood in wartime Holland, the action and adventure of Michiel’s mission makes for a gripping read, while the anguish of his experience underscores the ultimate anti-war tenor of the novel.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesWinter in Wartime Reviews
3.5
“basically a whodunnit, but with war in the background.
for a children's book (apparently. i didnt know it until the end), it's able to bring up complex themes, especially regarding morality in the state of war.
some parts are a bit predictable, but well. it's a children's book after all, so it's okay”
“The story is based on the author's own experiences in Nazi occupied Holland. It is towards the end of 1944 and the Germans are becoming more indiscriminate and cruel in their reprisals. Michiel is sixteen years old and is unwittingly thrown into the struggle against the Nazi regime.
A story that ultimately is about the futility of war - "War is so cruel, he thought."
The book ends with liberation for Holland and Michiel stating, "There is only one thing now that makes any sense. ... Never fighting in another war again, only figthing against war."
Yet then we see that we humans will never learn as we turn to the epilogue. Michiel is now eighty-nine years old and he has seen fighting in Hungary, Vietnam, Korea . . . . . . and the list continues for nearly a full page. A very telling end to the book.”
About Jan Terlouw
Jan Terlouw was born in the Netherlands in 1931. He worked as a nuclear physicist in countries across the world before entering politics as a representative of the Dutch D66 party in 1971. Alongside his political career he has written many successful children's books, including Winter in Wartime, which was based on his own memories of the Nazi occupation. It won the Golden Pen Prize for the best Dutch children's book in 1973 and has since been adapted for film and stage.
Laura Watkinson is a full-time translator from Dutch, Italian, and German. She lives in Amsterdam.
Laura Watkinson is a full-time translator from Dutch, Italian, and German. She lives in Amsterdam.
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