Allan Zullo

This is a fascinating look at how young adults became resisters and fought the Nazis. Well written with very good descriptions of how difficult it was to fight back through bone chilling weather, and the need to trust others who said they wanted to help, but many murdered instead. So many of those who fought, previously lost their family members and fought in the spirit of righteous indignation.

There were few sources of finding weapons to use, yet with courage they fought where ever they show more could, often giving their lives in an attempt to find justice of those fathers/mothers/siblings who were terribly put to death in brutal concentration camps, or herded like cattle in trains that stopped in woods, only to line up everyone to dig holes where they then put to death.

The author stresses that throughout history it is said that the Jews never fought back, and this simply is not true. The fact is Hitler and his collection of henchmen were very good at deception as they systematically rounded up, placed Jews, and those who helped them in ghettos, then transported them via trains to the many camps where they were beaten, forced to work until death, or taken to gas chambers to die.

The many brave youth courageously fought with a vengeful spirit that enabled them to move forward to find some semblance of ways to fight back with every manner they could.

3.5 Stars show less

I have to admit this was an amazing book. Sometimes these "animal heroes" type of books bore me because often they just repeat the same few stories over and over. But these weren't just stories about pet dogs who saved their master from choking, or a cat who alerted neighbors when a robbery was taking place (those are two examples I've found in MANY other books on this subject)... No, these were ones I've never heard of, and they weren't just the usual family pets. People say pets become a show more part of the family and automatically protect "their" herd/pack/etc, but some of the stories in this book were about WILD animals who instinctively saved complete strangers. Some of these stories sent shivers down my spine they were so interesting. show less

4 stars. This book contains 8 condensed stories of child survivors. Their stories are amazing and heartbreaking. All survived terrible conditions, and all of them had an amazing determination to live. I learned new things... like the St. Louis, and de dodentrein - the train of the dead. It's just heartbreaking to think of so many children being separated from their families surviving any way they can. It's a powerful book and I'm very glad I read it.

I love ghost stories. I'm always game for any collection of spooky tales. I often turn to middle-grade lightly scary stories as palate cleansers between heavier adult fiction that I enjoy reading. This book is a collection of 11 allegedly true strange occurrences that happened to kids. From cats who return from the dead to mysterious glowing orbs, these stories are eerie and entertaining.

This book is age appropriate. The stories are lightly creepy but nothing over-the-top. Most middle-grade show more age kids would enjoy this book. It might be a bit too much for kids younger than 8 just because it talks about death, scary things at night, dangerous situations, etc.

Stories included are:

The Devil's Garden
Grave Consequences
The Headless Trainman
The Secret of Room 333
The Home Wrecker
The Ghost of Slow Sam
The Baby-Sitting Ghost
The Scardey Cats
The Thing in the Attic
The Warning
The Glowing Ball of Death

At 91 pages, this is an entertaining quick read. The stories would be fun to read out loud as well. Might be great ghost story entertainment for a stormy night, or during a sleepover or camping trip. This might be a great book to use in a classroom setting as a writing prompt for students to write their own spooky tale.

Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo have written other similar books including Totally Haunted Kids and Spooky Kids: Strange But True Tales. I enjoyed this book. I will definitely be looking at more of their work. show less