One Boy’s War by Nancy McDonald
Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 134 pages
Historical fiction
Publisher: Iguana Books
Release date: April, 2020
Synopsis
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.
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Boy from Berlin by Nancy McDonald
Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 142 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Iguana Books
Release date: May 7, 2018
Synopsis
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.
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Praise for Boy from Berlin
“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.
Interview with Nancy McDonald
Q: You’re been a professional writer your entire career, but novel writing has come late. Has anything surprised you about it?
A: Yes! I’ve been amazed at how it takes over my life. Whatever book I’m writing is in my head all the time. I’m going about my day – shopping, walking the river, meeting friends, working at the book store – and scenes, or bits of scenes, are percolating away. It’s almost like I’m living two parallel lives, mine and my characters’.
Q: What genre do you write?
A: I write historical fiction for middle-grade readers. I’ve always been very interested in history, in particular the two World Wars. But how I got writing fiction for that age group was a fluke. I was cleaning out my filing cabinet after my husband Käfer died, and I came across a slim, manila file folder that I didn’t recall seeing before. Inside were copies of letters that my late father-in-law had written in 1940. I knew right away that they were all that remained of the story of how and why the family had fled Berlin, first for The Hague and then to England. My first thought was to write a history for the family, but as I started to piece together the information from the letters with what I learned and imagined how Käfer would have felt and acted, it turned into a novel, Boy from Berlin, written in his eight-year-old voice. The sequel, One Boy’s War, picks up the action, again, from his point of view.
Q: How did you do the research?
A: Parts of it were really challenging because the books are based on real people and everyone in my husband’s family is dead. I started by scouring the Internet. It’s amazing what you can find out online! I discovered that Käfer’s father, who I knew was an aeronautical engineer, had invented a game-changing fuel pump that could help win the war. When they fled, it landed him on Hitler’s notorious “Black List”, a special arrest list to be used upon a successful invasion of Britain. I travelled to Berlin and The Hague to see where Käfer had lived, and the places he’d gone with his parents, and tried to re-create what happened from his eight-year-old point of view.
Q: What’s the appeal for middle-graders?
A: First of all, both books are thrillers. They’re action-packed with lots of twists and turns. Second, the stakes are very high. There’s a family in real peril, in a race to escape, with the Nazis on their heels. If they’re caught, they’ll end up in a concentration camp. And, at the centre, there’s a young boy, Käfer, who is desperate to help save them — and prove to his father that he’s brave and resourceful.
Q: What’s your next book?
A: It’s called Girl on the Run and it is set in Berlin in 1933, just as Hitler comes to power. It’s based on historical fact, but this time the characters are totally fictitious. The heroine is twelve-year-old Amelie. She has a little sister, Gigi, and a father who is heads the biology department at Friedrich Wilhelm University (now Humboldt). Their mother is dead. The story begins ominously with the news that Nazi commissars have been appointed to all the universities. Jewish professors and students are banned; curricula are changed to suit Hitler’s beliefs. When Amelie’s father falls in love with a colleague, Amelie discovers that her mother was Jewish and that the new step-mother doesn’t want her or her sister. That sets off a trail of events that leads the girls on a harrowing escape, hopefully to safety.
Q: What do you think is the attraction of historical fiction?
A: As a reader, it lets you get lost in another time and place and experience a moment in history through the eyes of the characters. I think we all wonder: what would I have done if I were put in those circumstances? Would I do the brave thing?
About 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.
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Giveaway
Autographed set of BOY FROM BERLIN & ONE BOY’S WAR. (one winner) (USA and Canada only) (ends Oct 9)
