Summer of My German Soldier

Title: Summer of My German Soldier
Author: Bette Greene
Publisher: Penguin Group, 1973
Reading Level: 5th and up
Pages: 230
Genre: Realistic Fiction











Summary:

Patty Bergan is a Jew girl at the age of 12. She has a hard life in her family. Her parents do not notice any of the good she does and they can only criticise every little thing that she does do. However, her little sister, Susan, is adored for everything and anything she does; whether it be playing in a mud puddle or sitting in a pretty dress. This is very hard for Patty and she strives to gain her parent's approval. One day helping in the store, a dozen pre-Nazis come in to buy hats. They had been deported to a POW camp just outside of Patty's town, and the heat was oeverpowering to them. Patty goes to help a young soldier who is named Anton. They talk and she finds that he is very nice, but once he leaves she doesn't know if she will ever see him again. One day she is in her backyard when she sees a man running through the field towards a train. She recognizes him as Anton and runs to him. He had run away from the camp and so Patty decides to help him by letting him stay in a building behind her house that nobody knows about. She takes him food and new clothes and they become great friends. However, Anton decides to leave on a train one day, and Patty is distressed. She makes up her mind to go with him, but he won't hear of it. He gives her his ring as a token of love and kissed her before he head off. Patty treasures the ring and decides that once she is graduated she will earn money to head off to Germany and be reuinted with Anton again. However, in her effort to please her parents, she shows her father the ring. He asks where she got it, so she made up a story of an old man coming to the house asking for food. She gave him food, and he gave her the ring as an offering of thanks. Patty's father doesn't believe her and thinks she let the man touch her. A few weeks later, an officer asks Patty to retell her story. He shows her a picture of a man and asks her if it was the old man that came to her house. Patty is shocked; it's Anton! However, she doesn't let them know it was him. Then the officer pulls out a shirt with blood on it and asks if she knows it. It was her father's shirt that she had given to Anton. In her distress she asks what they have done to Anton, and the officer arrests her for helping a fugitive. Patty then has to go to court and she is sent to a reform school for girls. Ruth, a slave in Patty's home, comes to visit her and tell her of what is happening. Patty wants Ruth to take her away from the school, but Ruth just offers consoling words. Once she leaves, Patty finds the strength to make a goal. She will survive this school and she will continue her life and become a reporter. The book ends with her decision.

My Reaction:

I loved this book! I loved how the author put the young love between a Jew and a pre-Nazi, showing that forgiveness is possible and love can happen anywhere. It is sad that Anton died, but I love how Patty is able to find strength again and continue her life.

Potential Problems:

Patty's father beats her and that is a huge problem. It might be too hard for young children to deal with that idea. Also, Anton was murdered and parent's might want to consider that before reading it to small children.

Recommendations:

I definitely recommend this book to whoever! You will fall in love with Patty's determination to please her parents, and her bravery at hiding Anton. You will want to keep reading even when the book has ended!