As he did with National Book Award-winner Claudette Colvin, Phillip Hoose here highlights another rebellious, brave teen who stood up for his beliefs. Hoose incorporates lengthy first-person quotes, derived from e-mail exchanges and interviews with Knud Pedersen.
Pedersen was in eighth grade in Odense, Denmark, when the German military invaded on April 9, 1940. One day later, the Danish king and prime minister signed an agreement allowing Germany to occupy the country and control the government. Knud and his older brother, Jens, were "totally ashamed." The brothers decided that if the adults weren't going to fight back, they would. With a cousin and two friends, they formed a resistance unit called the RAF Club (after the heroic British Royal Air Force) and concentrated on acts of sabotage and propaganda. In 1941, Pedersen's father took a job in Aalborg, a crucial link between Germany and Sweden. The brothers assembled a new group, named it the Churchill Club, and expanded their mission to include capturing weapons and building bombs. The audacity of their operations will boggle readers' minds.
In May 1942, the Churchill Club members were caught. Their conviction and subsequent imprisonment made them international heroes. By the time the Pedersen brothers were released in May 1944, the Danish resistance had grown to such an extent that Germany declared Denmark "enemy territory." But several of the boys never recovered from their time in jail, and either died young or lived unhappy lives. Teens will be inspired by the bravery this young man showed in the face of great danger. --Angela Carstensen, school librarian and blogger