Summer of My German Soldier

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Summary: one of my favorite books
Review: I had to read "Summer of my German Soldier" for my English class during the summer and write a paper on it. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of having to spend my summer vacation reading a novel, but I read it. I loved it. Bette Greene is an extremely talented writer, and the story is very touching. It tells the story of a 12-year-old girl named Patty Bergen whose decision to shelter a German prisoner goes against the will of her father and almost everyone else in her town. The fact that Patty is so physically and emotionally abused by her bitter father is disturbing, but the love that Patty receives from her housekeeper Ruth and the German prisoner whom she shelters gives the novel a touch of hope. I won't give any more of the novel away, all I'll say is that this is an enjoyable story, well-written and poignant. Recommended reading for anyone, teenager or older.

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Summary: Exciting drama and romance!!
Review: Summer of my german soldier is a really heart-moving,tear dropping romance,action and drama story.About a 12 year old girl named Patty bergan who lives in arkansas jenkinsville during WWII when she sees a camping house come into her town with other Nazis.Along the way she meets Anton, a lonely prisoned German P.o.w!! but mainly, this book has taught me alot about how you treat other people and that you shouldnt abuse them because everyone needs to be loved and cared for like they wanted for.Patty feels left-out and concerned because of rejection and lack of love from her mother or father and she thinks Ruth, her house keeper was the only one who's really concerned about you.The movie was really great too i give 2 thumbs up and 5 stars,anyways the story kind of changed me in a way i'll never forget and it was really emotional how she would risk her life for a real true friend who cares about her and treats her like she's no different than anyone else.So i recommend this book to anyone who feels left-out or needs friendship or romance,action,drama,or anything they want to make them happy again.

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Summary: SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER
Review: The summer of my German soldier takes place in Arkansas, during WWII. The story is about a girl named Patty who feels that her parents are mean and cruel to her because they don't appreciate anything she does for them. The only person who she can find acceptance in is her housekeeper, Ruth. Patty's small town in Jekingsville, becomes the site of a POW camp for German soldiers, and one day the soldiers are allowed to visit her father's department store to purchase some hats. Patty, who was working that day, met one of the German soldiers named Anton Reiker. Soon after, Anton escaped from the prison camp and hid out at Patty's house in her abandoned attic. Later her family found out what Patty has been up to.
If one of the characters were to run into trouble it would be Patty. In the book Patty makes wrong choices that get her in alot of trouble. Knowing that she is Jewish she's not allowed to talk to any of the German soldiers that come to her hometown. She disobeys and does it anyway. she helps the German soldier that escaped from the prison camp. Later in the story the FBI catches up to what Patty has been up to. Her hometown then turns against her and calls her a trader and sees her as a bad person.
My favorite character in the story is Patty Bergen. But, if I were in her place I don't think I would have done the same thing she did by helping the German prisoner who escaped the campsite. For example, it's like me hiding out Bin Laddin in my attic. I could never turn my back on my country and help him. Patty is a twelve-year old brave girl who takes the risk of hiding out a German prisoner. Her parents always brush her off to the side. Patty feels left out in her family kind of like an outcast. I can kind of understand were Patty is coming from for her to help that German soldier. Since her mother or father doesn't pay any attention to her she feels like she needs someone to talk to or any one that has interest in her and would care about her. She obviously doesn't care who it is because she starts talking to a German prisoner and he's in his twenty's. The thing that I like about her is that she's a good-hearted person.
If I were to relate to any of the characters, I think it would be Patty. I had an experience kind of similar to what Patty went through. My parents always told my sisters and me we weren't allowed to have a boyfriend until we were eighteen-years old. I was the one who disobeyed my parents. When I was about thirteen-years old I had a boyfriend anyway. I would lie to my parents about where I was going or whom I was going with. After a while I felt guilty, and I felt like I had to confess. I waited to long to tell them and they ended up finding out. After that it took me a while to earn my trust back from them. So I think it's best for parents to be open with their children. Don't tell your kids you can't do this, you can't go there, or you can't hang out with a certain person because they don't like them. Later in life their parents will realize they should not tell their kids "no" just for the heck of it or just to be strict. I could see who was a bad person to hang out with, or a bad place to go.
I enjoyed reading this book, but it took me a couple of chapters to get into it. I had a favorite part and a least favorite part. My favorite part was when Patty met the German soldier at her father's department store and supplied him with a place to stay, clothes, and food. My least favorite part of the story was when Patty's father beat her because he didn't like her friend Freddy. I don't think children should get beaten by their parents, especially a young twelve-year old. I could see if it was a little kid getting disciplined, but spanked on the hand.
I think I would recommend this book for someone else to read. It's a good book. The kind of person I recommend to read this book is a girl or boy who enjoys reading romantic stories.

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Summary: A review for parents
Review: This book was on a list of recommended summer reading for my daughter. I was disturbed by the two sentence synopsis on the list and decided to purchase and read it myself to find out if the school to which I pay a princely sum every year, was indeed recommending a book with such a poor moral foundation. What I found out was that not only was the two-sentence synoposis accurate, the book was worse than described. (To get a plot summary look at some of the other reviews--I won't waste space with that here.)

Nowhere in this book is there an acknowledgment that POWs--regardless of what their personal political stands may be--belong in POW camps until the end of hostilities. The heroine of this story is in fact championed for protecting an escaping POW. There had been no build up suggesting that conditions at the camp were subhuman, etc. No, he just didn't want to be there. He wasn't a Nazi, he was misunderstood, a product of his historical circumstance, etc.

Our heroine's eventual punishment is presented as the result of an unfortunate legally-required minimum, not as an appropriate punishment for her actions. She is now the victim of a legal system that can't acknowledge her personal circumstances--her evil father and mother who through their lack of love drove her to want to help the German soldier.

The fact is, our heroine's "protection" of the soldier is an indirect cause of his eventual death, something which never even seems to occur to the heroine--or to anyone else for that matter. It is odd that after portraying the soldier as having such great personal potential and goodness that he should be protected from internment at a POW camp, the author does nothing to suggest at his death that his life had any value beyond his relationship with our heroine. Even there his memory serves as nothing more than a foundation for her daydreams. And her daydreaming is not about his life cut short, it's about her playing the role of sympathetic visitor to his grieving mother in Germany!

Not only does this story present extremely poor choices by a 12-year-old as praiseworthy, it never questions a relationship between a 12-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man, and it romanticizes death--a very unfortunate theme among much of what passes for award-worthy modern children's literature.

Finally, all of the characters are completely one-dimensional. The heroine's parents are evil without explanation, the German soldier is a perfect gentleman, the townspeople are hysterical bigots, the heroine's black maid is wise and the only source of love for the heroine.

With all the great literature out there, why do we have our children read this junk? What our children read is important and it is very disturbing that it appears from the other reviews that a great many schools seem to be using this book as part of a literature or history program. It is poor on all levels, poorly written, poor character and plot development, and poor moral lessons.

Rating:
Summary: INTENSE AND PAINFUL BUT EXCELLENT NOVEL
Review: This was a truly painful book for me--I might have abandonned the effort if my reading group had not chosen it. Neither Jewish nor Germanic, I am simply uncomfortable reading about the victimization of children--whether the brutality is physical or emotional. In this case 12-year-old Patty Bergen endured both in the home where she was supposed to be safe and valued.

It definitely would have been my loss had I not continued, but it was not a book to "enjoy". I felt the tension rising with grim persistence, as I realized that she lived in perpetual fear: of maternal rejection and ridicule; of her vicious, child-beater father; of coming in a poor second place to her pretty, petted little sister. Worst of all she knew that the entire, narrow-minded Arkansas town would oppose her humanitarian treatment of an eascaped German (but not Nazi) POW. The story reminds us that World War II came disagreeably close to home--not with bullets, air raids and invasion, but in a more subtle manner--by attacking the mind as well. In Greene's scenario of mass paranoia and government-promoted prejudice, there is no room for human compassion, international understanding or the budding of romance. Even pure friendship is tainted by vicious minds. But Patty is a real heroine, willing to endure social stigma and punishment to remain true to her heart. The ending was sudden and shattering. A heart-wrenching, thought-provoking book for mature readers.