Rating: 
Summary: Living to Tell the Story
Review: "A Boyhood Under Nazi-Occupied France" is a compelling story of a Jewish family in their struggle to keep one step ahead to stay alive.
As a master story teller, Dr. Burnell retained a vivid and close memory of his personal experience, as a youth, surviving the horrors of war.
His mother was a very strong and resourceful women, allowing the family to land on their feet each time they were to forced to move from city to city. The family was tested in every way.
Dr. Burnell's extrodinary book will take some readers to a place
they have never been and others from a place they have never forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: Living to Tell the Story
Review: "A Boyhood Under Nazi-Occupied France" is a compelling story of a Jewish family in their struggle to keep one step ahead to stay alive.
As a master story teller, Dr. Burnell retained a vivid and close memory of his personal experience, as a youth, surviving the horrors of war.
His mother was a very strong and resourceful women, allowing the family to land on their feet each time they were to forced to move from city to city. The family was tested in every way.
Dr. Burnell's extrodinary book will take some readers to a place
they have never been and others from a place they have never forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: A BOYHOOD ODYSSEY DURING WWII
Review: "Beating the Odds" by George Burnell is the exciting autobiography of a youngster growing up in Nazi-occupied France during WWII. In 369 action packed pages, the author traces his journey from Strasbourg, France in 1939 until the end of WWII in May, 1945. "Beating the Odds" is a real page turner that reads like a novel full of twists and turns. As an adolescent French Jew, George with his family lived in constant fear of discovery by the Nazis and moved frequently to ellude them. Despite these risks, he manages to join his Uncle David, a Dentist, and others in the French Resistance and narrowly escapes with his life. This fascinating memoir gives the reader an interesting and unique perspective on WWII in France and I highly recommend it to you.
Rating:
Summary: A BOYHOOD ODYSSEY DURING WWII
Review: "Beating the Odds" by George Burnell is the exciting autobiography of a youngster growing up in Nazi-occupied France during WWII. In 369 action packed pages, the author traces his journey from Strasbourg, France in 1939 until the end of WWII in May, 1945. "Beating the Odds" is a real page turner that reads like a novel full of twists and turns. As an adolescent French Jew, George with his family lived in constant fear of discovery by the Nazis and moved frequently to ellude them. Despite these risks, he manages to join his Uncle David, a Dentist, and others in the French Resistance and narrowly escapes with his life. This fascinating memoir gives the reader an interesting and unique perspective on WWII in France and I highly recommend it to you.
Rating:
Summary: Huckleberry George
Review: A young boy wanders from one vivid experience to another to another, just like kids do. His childhood had unique exposures to Nazi terror and horror, to be sure. But throughout those grim days, there remained that irrepressible insouciance of youth. There was even hero worship when he became involved with the French underground. He brings us right along with him as he becomes a man.This author described what was, more than anything else, a normal, adventuresome boyhood. Although I was expecting something more like "The Diary of Anne Frank", this book was more reminiscent of "Huckleberry Finn".
Rating:
Summary: Beating the Odds reviewed
Review: Dr. Burnell tells a story of fear, brutality, resourcefulness, courage, and sensitivity. These emotions are the backdrop to his autobiographical tale of growing from just-past-childhood to near-adulthood in Nazi-occupied France during WW 2. Burnell describes how he and his mother survived the relentless threat of the Nazis as they fled from city to city in France just barely ahead of the Nazi persecution. From Strasbourg in the eastern part of the country to Paris to Bordeaux and finally to Lyon in the south. Along the way his stepfather was consumed by the Holocaust and by the end Burnell was fighting back by working for the French Resistance. The writing is clear, personal, and carries the read along swiftly. I could barely put it down- thus I read it in just a few nights.
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully written memoir
Review: How well I remember World War II, but only from the safety of my childhood in the United States, unlike Dr. Burnell whose youth during the occupation of his beloved France is the subject of this memoir. It provides us with historic data that is particularly relevant as our own country faces another major war. As a Jewish family working with the French Resistance, life for young George life became a series of escapes, moving from city to city to avoid execution. George's beloved step-father died for his heroic efforts, but mother and son managed to survive the ordeal. This easy to read book is written with sensitivity and intelligence during a period fraught with atrocities that one should never forget. I couldn't put the book down.
Rating:
Summary: Seeing WWII from the perspective of a French Youth
Review: Reading this book allows the reader to see WWII from the perspective of a young child. From the intimate details of his childhood, you will learn how a young innocent can overcome many obstacles, adapt, and survive. When is the movie coming out???
Rating:
Summary: Living in Nazi-Occupied France
Review: Seeped into the depths of war and dispair of mankind, Dr. Burnell takes us on a journey through Nazi-occupied France during WWII. As opposed to the atrocities of holocaust victims in that same era, we are instead introduced into the lives of the common citizenry as they struggle through each day not knowing who is friend or foe. Dr. Burnell's family must decide when to run and when to stay; while knowing their decisions set them at risk to lose everything, including their lives. Balanced with historical facts, Dr. Burnell tells a tale that has us turning the pages, immersing us into the joys and sorrows of a family that in the end prevails despite their losses and succeeds in spite of the tragedy brought by war.
Rating: 
Summary: Family odyssey
Review: The odyssey of this family through France during WWII in order to survive was quite remarkable. the mother was particularly resourceful and brave to support the family so openly as a restauranteur when they were so much at risk. This would be a good read for high school students. It follows the events of the war in a clear anecdotal way for historical value, plus makes it real as you see it through the eyes of a resilient young boy who observed and experienced the ethnic abuse, terror, uncertainty and betrayals. He also tells us of the love and loyalty of family and those who banded to resist.
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