The Boy who Dared by Susan Bartoletti is based on the true life story of Helmuth Buddat Hubner who was a German boy living in Germany during WWII. He grew up loving Germany and wanting a strong country. He joined the Hitler Youth, but then he began to see that maybe things in Germany were not as they seemed. He was not a Jew, but a Mormon, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he knew that all people must be treated equally and fairly, and that was not what was happening in Germany. He tried to follow the crowd, but discovered he just couldn't. The book begins on day 264 of his imprisonment in a Nazi camp for his being an enemy of the state at only 16 years old. It flashes back from the prison to his years growing up and what lead to his death sentence. It is a story of courage, choosing the right, and standing up for one's beliefs even when no one else is. The author shows photos of the actual people at the end. It was a great story about a very brave boy that couldn't just sit by and let wrong happen.
I read this book and really enjoyed it. It was just enough detail and suggestion for me to want my son to read it too. I don't like reading every gory detail about such historical events. It is a gift to be able to write such a story.
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