Orphan Monster Spy

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Shortlisted for The Branford Boase Award 2019 | Shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award 2018 | January 2019 Debut of the Month Right now, history is repeating. The very things for which the teenagers who confronted the Third Reich sacrificed so much are under threat. Resistance has never been so important. I hope that the readers of Orphan Monster Spy will part of that.

Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen: 9780451478757

I’ve had a life‐long horrified fascination with WW2, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, partly because I grew up in the war‐mad ‘70s and partly because I knew real‐live Germans who were evidently not the Nazis of the comics. My mother’s best friend was German and I had real problems squaring the lovely, pacifist people I knew with the war stories that made up the majority of the films, comics and TV programmes at the time. As I learned the details of the Holocaust that dichotomy grew more profound and disturbing. I’ve carried this horrified fascination ever since. Sarah is a Jewish girl who loses her mother right at the start of the story when they are attempting to escape to Austria. Her mother was an alcoholic, once an actor and performer, but who found herself without a husband, when he left them, and struggling to look after her daughter when she was unable to work.Killeen crams in plenty of great story ideas into this terrific novel that will appeal to young & old readers alike. In his notes at the end of the novel it's quite amazing to see how many real people & situations inspired this story. He also notes that when he was feeling down while writing someone told him that he "could be the YA Graham Greene" & after reading this book I think they may be right! Whatever else I read in the next twelve months Orphan Monster Spy is going to a hard one to beat as my favourite book of the year. Saskia Maarleveld -While it wasn’t a favored performance for me, personally, I think she was a good fit for the story. Najlepsza powieść młodzieżowa 2018, która zachwyci także dorosłych, bez dwóch zdań – „Sierota, Bestia, Szpieg” Matta Killeena.

Orphan Monster Spy - by Jordan Lynch March Book Review: Orphan Monster Spy - by Jordan Lynch

At the same time, I found it satisfying how strong Sarah was in their company. In an ignorant bubble, where they were being taught that an Arian race was supreme and strong, there was Sarah, out thinking, outrunning and outmanoeuvring them at every turn. Sarah, a Jew, someone seen as week and a plague on society. The plot was chillingly uncomfortable. A lot of things happens that make you gag. Or chill you to the bone. I was very interested in the history notes at the end though. That was interesting, well written and the best part of this whole thing. Maybe this author should write nonfiction. Un libro de estilo juvenil pero que se adentra en un tema escabroso como son las Napolas nazis. Las napolas eran una especie de internados donde estudiaban los hijos de los nazis más fervientes, siempre que cumplieran con el arquetipo ario; aunque más que historia/matemáticas/literatura, les enseñaban la ley del más fuerte, convirtiéndolos en máquinas leales sólo al partido y al Führer. So it had potential... the story is fairly interesting and I cared about the characters. However, you’d think a story about espionage in WW2 would be way more exciting and while there are some intense parts... I forgot it’s YA so it mostly focuses on things like school, arguing with adults, main character socializing with other young girls, etc. Also didn’t care for the some of the dialogue.

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Though no punches are pulled about the unimaginable atrocity of the death camps, a life-affirming history