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I loved this book. It’s heartbreaking & sad in most ways, but lovely also. What would seem to be strange – a 12 year old American Jewish girl befriending a German solider during World War II, made perfect sense: 12 year old Patty feels unloved and unappreciated by her family and doesn’t even fit in with her community. With this (decent) young man, she finds the acceptance and affection she craves. I was able to identify with her. Beautiful story that I found thought provoking.
Patty, a young Jewish girl in Arkansas who gets most of her affection from the family's black housekeeper, falls "in love" with an escaped German POW. The relationship between the two remains amorphous and far from sexual; instead, Patty's tortured relationship with her family and town is the focus. Years after reading this book, what I remember most are Patty's descriptions of the drugstore products: the early waxy lipsticks, the forgotten candies.
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Poignant and compelling. I am glad to hear it is assigned reading in many schools (although I suppose that might turn people against it!).
I read this back in the 70s. I remember nothing.
I read this book many, many years ago, but I think the plot is that during World War II, a American young woman in the heartland falls in love with a German POW.
I should reread this book, now that I know that Kansas (including Lawrence) housed a bunch of German POWs during World War II. Someone needed to work the fields while the men from the US were off fighting the war. I'm sure romances and secret love affairs happened between the women who lived near those POW camps and the POWs themselves. ...more
I should reread this book, now that I know that Kansas (including Lawrence) housed a bunch of German POWs during World War II. Someone needed to work the fields while the men from the US were off fighting the war. I'm sure romances and secret love affairs happened between the women who lived near those POW camps and the POWs themselves. ...more
This was my Banned Book Week reading. Reading it for the first time as an adult, it was a 2 1/2 star book for me. It just seemed too implausible at times, but perhaps that wouldn't have bothered me if I'd read it when I was actually in the target demographic group.
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I read this book in the 4th grade resulting in a life-long fascination with WWII & history in general!
Jan 12, 2010
Liz
marked it as to-read
Jan 28, 2010
Maggie
marked it as to-read
Jun 16, 2014
Jennifer
marked it as definitely-want-to-read
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review of another edition
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unread-series
Nov 01, 2016
Zack
marked it as to-read
