My Brother’s Shadow by Monika Schroder - ESSENTIAL

Schroder, Monika  My Brother’s Shadow,  217 pg.  Frances Foster Books, 2011 $17.99  Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”);  Mature Content: PG-13 (some substance abuse ); Violence: PG (some violence relating to war).  

The setting World War I 1918 Berlin Germany.  The people-- a struggling family who lost their father in the war.  Moritz a sixteen-year-old boy, who witnesses his family divided. His brother is fighting in the trenches.  His mother is an activist against the monarchy, and the head of socialist meetings.  His ailing grandmother lives with them.  Moritz is not sure how he feels about the war but he knows his family is barely surviving.  He so desperately wants things to go back to the way they were before the war.  Through his meager attempts he realizes the horrors of war and how life can never be the same.  

This book had me gripped right from the beginning.  There are so many World War II books this was refreshing take on Germany in World War I.  You see the foreshadowing of events that later creates the Second World War.  I’ve read other war books and they often portray the idealist plot.  This book is portrayed very realistic.  There is no fluff.  It’s paints a daunting picture of war with some good and most of the bad.  Don’t you think it’s interesting that the winners of the war are the one’s that write the history books.  

MS, HS, – ESSENTIAL.  Emilee, Teacher Librarian