First sentence: The Gestapo would arrive any minute.
Premise/plot: Patricia McCormick tells the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer for elementary-aged readers. It is subtitled pastor, spy, and unlikely hero. Young people likely haven't heard of him at all. So this is a great introduction. The prologue starts at the climax. The first chapter takes us back to his childhood days where we learn that he is a thoughtful, sensitive, intelligent dreamer. This one is very family-focused for the conspiracy to kill Hitler involved many of his family. Year by year, readers learn the how and the why. Notably, readers learn of many opportunities that would have kept him safe and out of the war and the dangers and risks of being in Nazi Germany. Bonhoeffer rejected the easy way out believing that no action was still an action. In other words, failure to rebel and speak out against Hitler was to support him. Silence and escape were unthinkable.
My thoughts: I knew of him as a Christian writer and thinker. I have read The Cost of Discipleship. I knew he died during the war at a concentration camp, I did not know that he was there not just for preaching and proclaiming against the regime, but was in fact an actual spy and co-conspirator. So I learned something!
This one was a quick read.
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
2 comments:
I read his biography by Eric Metaxas a few years ago and was surprised to discover that, too - that he was instrumental in the plot to kill Hitler and was actually put to death for that reason. So I disagree a bit when someone calls him a martyr.
This book looks really interesting!
My review from this week is City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Check it out: http://shoshireads.weebly.com/home/city-of-bones-review6047546
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