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Book Details:
Book Title: One Boy's War by Nancy McDonald
Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 134 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Iguana Books
Release date: April, 2020
Content Rating: G. There is no violence, bad language etc. in this book.
Raves for Boy From Berlin by Nancy McDonald:
"Inspired by a true story, Boy from Berlin shares a unique voice in the Holocaust. Highly recommended!” - Jennifer Roy, author of Yellow Star, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award.
“A compelling introduction to themes of war, courage and identity, certain to engage young readers.” - Trilby Kent, author of Stones for my Father, winner of the TD Canadian Children’s Literary Award.
Book Description:
ENGLAND, SUMMER 1940. Following a brush with death in the Irish Sea, 10-year-old Käfer Avigdor unexpectedly finds himself back in London. There, he stumbles upon a sinister Nazi plot that targets hundreds of people in Britain—including the most powerful man in the country. The one person who might be able to defeat Adolf Hitler. With the Germans threatening to invade England at any moment, Käfer musters all his courage and ingenuity in a valiant effort to thwart the Nazis. But will he succeed in time to save the day? One Boy’s War, the sequel to Boy from Berlin, is inspired by real people and historical events.
Buy Now:
Amazon ~ Amazon.ca
Chapters Indigo.ca ~ Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound
Amazon ~ Amazon.ca
Chapters Indigo.ca ~ Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound
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You May Also Want to Read:
Book Details:
Book Title: Boy from Berlin by Nancy McDonald
Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 142 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Iguana Books
Release date: May 7, 2018
Format available for review: PDF
Tour dates: September 14 to October 2, 2020
Content Rating: G. There is no violence, bad language etc. in this book.
Book Description:
Berlin, April 1938. One night, eight-year-old Käfer Avigdor uses his specialty toilet-paper roll binoculars to spy on his Mama and Aunt Charlotte. The whispered conversation he overhears alerts him to a danger he didn’t know existed and starts him rethinking who he really is and where he belongs. Within hours, Käfer and his family flee their comfortable life. In a desperate race to stay one step ahead of the Nazis, Käfer is called on to be braver and more resourceful than he ever imagined possible. But will it be enough? Boy from Berlin is based on real people and actual events.
Buy Now:
Amazon ~ Amazon.ca
Chapters Indigo.ca ~ Barnes & Noble ~IndieBound
Abe Books ~ Book Depository ~ Books-A-Million
Add to Goodreads
Amazon ~ Amazon.ca
Chapters Indigo.ca ~ Barnes & Noble ~IndieBound
Abe Books ~ Book Depository ~ Books-A-Million
Add to Goodreads
Guest Post
The art of writing
historical fiction by Nancy McDonald, author of Boy from Berlin and One Boy’s
War
What’s real and what’s imagined? That’s a question I get
over and over again from readers of Boy
from Berlin and One Boy’s War,
novels based on my husband’s flight from Nazi Germany.
Did he get stranded on a fishing boat in the North Sea
escaping from Holland the day it fell to the Germans? Was he Jewish and didn’t
know it? Did he meet Winston Churchill?
Historical fiction is based on true events. In this case,
eight-year-old Käfer Avigdor, blissfully unaware that he is Jewish, is living a
comfortable life with his family in Berlin when Hitler comes to power. His
father is a talented aeronautical engineer who has invented a fuel pump that
could help win the war for the Nazis. But as a Jew, he knows that if they stay,
they will end up in a concentration camp. So one night the family flees, the
Nazis on their heels. They manage to get to The Hague safely – though not without
incidence – but two years later, when Holland falls, they run again, this time
to England on a small fishing boat as bombs rain down on Rotterdam.
These were pretty well all the facts I knew when I began to
write Boy from Berlin. Not nearly
enough to write a fully fleshed novel. So, I travelled to Berlin. I toured the
family home and visited all the places I knew Käfer had gone with his Mama: the
park across the street, the Tiergarten, the Zoo. All, the while, trying to
imagine his life as it was. How it changed overnight. How he felt about it – and the fact that his
parents never discussed being Jewish.
I took the train to The Hague and spent time walking
neighbourhood streets to get a picture of where and how he lived. I went down
to the harbour at Scheveningen, which is where they sailed from. The
first ship I saw was a fishing boat of about the same size as the one they
took. I imagined it setting sail for Folkestone, the sky black with smoke from
the bombs, the pier crowded with other Jewish families desperate to get out of
Holland. Most of them unsuccessful.
And, of course, I did a tremendous amount of research
into the period to ensure that all the details—tiny and large—were true, from
the clothes Käfer would have worn to the Battle for
the Netherlands he lived through.
I took the facts I’d amassed, together with how I
imagined how Käfer would have felt and acted —and changed – as events
unfolded, and wove them together. That’s the art of writing historical fiction.
Meet the Author:
Nancy McDonald began her career as a journalist on television programs that include W5, Canada AM, and Marketplace before going on to become a sought-after freelance writer, penning everything from documentaries to live-action scripts to comic books. One Boy’s War is the highly anticipated sequel to Boy from Berlin. Nancy lives in Stratford, Ontario, where she revels in Shakespeare, takes theatergoers on tours of the Costume Warehouse, and treads the boards with the Perth County Players. She also works part-time at Fanfare Books, Stratford’s only independent bookseller.
Tour Schedule:
Sep 14 –Splashes of Joy – book review of Boy from Berlin / guest post / author interview / giveaway
Sep 14 - Working Mommy Journal - book review of Boy from Berlin / giveaway
Sep 14 – Sefina Hawke's Books – book spotlight
Sep 15 – I'm Into Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 15 - Adventurous Bookworm – book review of One Boy’s War / giveaway
Sep 16 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book review of Boy from Berlin / giveaway
Sep 17 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book review of One Boy’s War / giveaway
Sep 17 - Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Sep 18 – Splashes of Joy – book review of One Boy’s War / giveaway
Sep 18 - Nighttime Reading Center – book review of Boy from Berlin / giveaway
Sep 21 – Rockin' Book Reviews – book review of Boy from Berlin / guest post / giveaway
Sep 22 – Pen Possessed – book review of One Boy’s War
Sep 22 - Library of Clean Reads - book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 23 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of Boy from Berlin / giveaway
Sep 23 - Working Mommy Journal - book review of One Boy's War / giveaway
Sep 24 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 24 - Books and Zebras @jypsylynn – book review of One Boy’s War
Sep 25 – fundinmental – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 25 - Writer with Wanderlust - book review of Boy from Berlin / giveaway
Sep 28 - Books for Books – book spotlight
Sep 29 – StoreyBook Reviews – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Sep 29 - Sylv.net – book spotlight
Sep 30 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of One Boy’s War / giveaway
Oct 1 – Connie's History Classroom – book review of Boy from Berlin
Oct 1 - Writer with Wanderlust - book review of One Boy’s War / guest post / giveaway
Oct 2 - Connie's History Classroom – book review of One Boy’s War
Oct 2 - Nighttime Reading Center – book review of One Boy’s War / giveaway
Oct 2 - Hall Ways Blog – book spotlight / giveaway
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