Summer of My German Soldier
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...
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Minutes before the train pulled into the station in Jenkinsville, Arkansas, Patty Bergen knew something exciting was going to happen. But she never could have imagined that her summer would be so memorable. German prisoners of war have arrived to make their new home in the prison camp in Jenkinsville. To the rest of her town, these prisoners are only Nazis. But to Patty, a young Jewish girl with a turbulent home life, one boy in particular becomes an unlikely friend. Anton relates to Patty in ways that her mother and father never can. But when their forbidden relationship is discovered, will Patty risk her family and town for the understanding and love of one boy? Author Biography: Bette Greene lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.
\ Library JournalFrom the newest book on the list to the oldest. As a teen, I reread this 1973 tearjerker every summer, longing for the romantic adventure of its heroine, Patty Bergen. That it is still in print and still taught in classrooms today is a testament to its emotional resonance. Patty is a Jewish girl living in Arkansas, where the U.S. military has established a POW camp for German prisoners of World War II. Anton is an escaped soldier whom Patty hides above the family garage. Patty's feelings for Anton are part romance, part friendship, and part father worship. Although it ends tragically (and how could it not?), their relationship gives Patty the strength to endure her emotionally distant and abusive family.—Angelina Benedetti, "35 Going on 13," BookSmack! 8/19/10\ \
