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Summer of My German Soldier
Books: CookBooks: German Cooking: Item 3
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Summer of My German Soldierby Bette Greene
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48 of 52 people found the following review helpful: "Summer of My German Soldier", April 23, 2001 Reviewer:"ssjoshi101" (IL) - This book is very sad, but still excellent. The main character is twelve-year-old Patty Bergen, a Jewish girl growing up during World War II. She lives in a small Arkansas town, where her parents own a department store. The federal government has chosen her town as the location for a camp for Nazi prisoners of war. Although most Jewish Americans despise the Germans for what they have done to Jews in Europe, Patty regards the prisoners of war with more curiosity than hatred. The Nazi soldiers are used to pick cotton in the fields of the rural South, and they are brought to Patty's father's store to pick out hats to protect their faces from the hot sun. Only one of them can speak English, and so he interprets for the entire group. The interpreter's name is Frederick Anton Reiker, known to his friends as Anton. Patty is present when the soldiers arrive at the store, and she waits on Anton, who wants to buy a pencil sharpener. They become friends in this short length of time. Patty has many problems with her family. Her parents never show her any love or kindness. Her mother, who is very beautiful, is always finding faults with Patty's appearance, and her father outright hates her. She has to endure beatings and whippings from him several times. Patty has very few friends, and her closest friend is Ruth, an African-American woman hired to be the housekeeper and cook for the Bergens. Patty also loves her sister Sharon, even though Sharon receives a lot of love and attention from the girls' parents, and of course there is Anton. She isn't good friends with the other girls in their town because of the ever-present barrier of religion. Anton manages to escape from the prisoners' camp and makes his way to Patty's home. She shelters him in a forgotten suite of rooms above the family's detached garage, and brings him food and clothing daily. During this time period, their friendship deepens. Anton witnesses one of the beatings that Patty's father was giving her, and tried to rush to her aid. When Patty is talking to him after this episode, she realizes that she has never loved her parents, particularly her father, and that they are cruel to her. However, her time with Anton can't last. He feels that he is threatening Patty's safety by staying with her, and so he leaves. Over the next few months, Patty has to deal with many crushing losses, especially one concerning Anton. She draws strength from a ring he gave her before parting, which was his most treasured possession. She also learns to accept that her parents cannot and will never love her, but she realizes that it isn't because of her faults that her parents hate her--it is because of their pettiness and narrow-mindedness. I recommend this book to anyone. It's really sad and will probably make you cry at some points, but the story is absorbing and very believable.
Publishers Weekly
Courageous and compelling! --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, 12-year-old Patty Bergen learns what it means to open her heart. Although she's Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi--but as a lonely, frightened young man with feelings not unlike her own, who understands and appreciates her in a way her parents never will. And Patty is willing to risk losing family, friends--even her freedom--for what has quickly become the most important part of her life. Thoughtful, moving, and hard-hitting, Summer of My German Soldier has become a modern classic.
"Courageous and compelling!" --Publishers Weekly
"An exceptionally fine novel." --The New York Times
* A Puffin Novel
* 208 pages
* Ages 10-14
* A 1973 National Book Award Finalist
* An ALA Notable Book
* A New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year
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