Mohinder's War by Bali Rai, reviewed by Dawn Finch

First the blurb...
Thirteen-year-old Joelle Breton stumbles across Indian-born RAF pilot Mohinder Singh when his plane crashes in occupied France and it's up to her and her parents to hide him from the Nazis. After all, her parents are brave members of the French Resistance and will do everything they can to help get Mohinder back to Britain. But when they are betrayed and tragedy strikes, Joelle and Mohinder will have to act fast if they are ever to evade the enemy.

Mohinder is a young RAF pilot who crash-lands in France at the height of the war. To all appearances, Joelle is just a regular girl going about her business and helping her parents in the bakery, but appearances can be deceptive and Joelle and her family are part of the French Resistance. Joelle's family risk everything to protect Mo and are determined to keep him safe and see him home. Mo isn't a victim though, he's a fighter and being rescued is just part of his story. When death and danger come to Joelle's family, it's Mo who bravely honours his oath to them all with a daring plan to save Joelle's life and escape.

The story is thrilling and I was on the edge of my seat reading it. At one point I realised I was holding my breath and willing things to go right for Mo, and for Joelle and her family. The book has all the expert crafting that I've come to expect from Bali Rai's work, and it has been condensed into a very fine little book indeed. A glimpse into a war from a perspective that is new to me, and I'm sure will be new to many other readers.

Published by Bloombury as part of the Flashbacks series, this is another of their books written to give young readers a glimpse into a period of history that is outside their personal frame of reference. The series is excellent and the books written by some of the finest writers for children. There is a risk that books marketed as being "perfect for introducing children to historical topics" might only be found in the classroom, and that would be a great shame because books like Mohinder's War really should have a much wider audience.

Mohinder's War is written by Bali Rai and published by Bloomsbury
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/mohinders-war-9781472958372/

Reviewed by Dawn Finch
Dawn is the current chair of the Society of Author's Children's Writers and Illustrators Committee (CWIG) and Trustee for the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)
@dawnafinch

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THE BOY AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN by JOHN BOYNE, reviewed by Pauline Francis

 

In this novel, Boyne re-visits World War 2 almost ten years after the success of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, so there’s the question: ‘Will this be as successful? 

Boyne uses a familiar technique: he sets up the world of Pierrot, a seven year old boy, very carefully. Did he decide to make this boy younger, I wonder, following the criticism of Bruno in his first novel - that he was too old not to understand that he was living next to a concentration camp? Or is that just me, thinking as an author, not as reader...it goes with the job. 

Pierrot has a German father, a French mother and a Jewish friend, a deaf boy called Anschel. After being orphaned, Pierrot is sent from Paris to Austria, where his Aunt Beatrix works as a housekeeper to a mysterious master who visits the Berghof, a house on top of a mountain in the Bavarian Alps. Travelling there alone, Pierrot’s fear is increased when he is bullied by young German soldiers on the train.

The reader is quickly drawn in to Pierrot’s new and strange world: the master of the Berghof is Adolph Hitler; the year is 1935 and the world is already moving towards war. Pierrot recognises Hitler as soon as he sees him. His aunt has already taught him what to say if they meet: Heil Hitler. They do meet, and Hitler take s a liking to Pierrot (re-named Pieter), and slowly sucks him into the Hitler Youth. That’s when I became too aware of the research that went into this book. I didn’t like the cameo appearances of real people into real history, such as the visit from the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson. 

But then fictional events take a turn for the worse and rack up a terrible tension. This is where I began to hold my breath. I want to sympathise with the traumatised, orphaned Pierrot/Pieter. I want his innocence to survive the brutality of war. But I know, deep down, that he has to conform to survive. 

And survive he does, at the cost of a terrible decision. Traitors must be punished, Pieter told himself.

That’s the great sadness and tragedy for me, an innocent child corrupted by his environment. Will Pieter suffer regret and guilt forever? Will Pieter be able to see just what he’s become? He has to, hasn’t he, otherwise he will have been corrupted forever. There has to be a way back for him, for all those who have been corrupted by war.

I once listened to a talk given by a boy soldier, ordered to kill to order in Sierra Leone. He said that afterwards, he was taught by a therapist to repeat, ‘It wasn’t me who killed. It was somebody else.’

How will Boyne deal with this dilemma?

I thought it wasn’t going to be solved, even as I began to read the last chapter, A Boy without a Home. At first, it read again too much like a history book, too close to research. And then came the ending I wanted, a wonderful ending of hope, which has stayed with me – and I won’t spoil by telling you, except to say that Pieter offers his only friend – and his reader – the chance to decide.

Pauline Francis

www.pf@paulinefrancis.co.uk

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