The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti is about Helmuth, a young German boy growing up during WWII. Helmuth becomes increasingly troubled with the ways people are being treated by Hitler and the Nazi's, so he starts to do something about it. He uses a short wave radio his brother left behind when he went off to battle, to listen to the British broadcast of the war. This information completely differs from the information the German radio broadcast gives, which is the only radio broadcast that is legal. Helmuth begins creating leaflets with the new information and distributing them across the city of Hamburg, Germany, with the help of his two best friends, Rudy and Karl. Eventually they get caught by the Gestapo and endure hours of torture. Helmuth is sentenced to death after taking all of the blame, and Rudy and Karl each get prison sentences.

This was a very good book. It is historical fiction, in that the author created some of the thoughts, conversations, and internal dialogue for the characters, but it is based on a real person. Susan Campbell Bartoletti got much of her information for this book from interviewing Karl and Gerhard (Helmuth's older brother). The story is told in flashbacks, which makes it seem as though there are two different stories combining at the end.