The Enemy Above

The Enemy Above by Michael P. Spradlin is a historical fiction novel on World War Two. It has real events with made-up characters. It shows that war can be scary and serious.

This book is about a Jewish boy named Anton, Bubbe (his grandma), and a whole community of jews who have to hide from the Nazis. Major Karl Von Duesen’s goal is to capture every Jew on the Ukrainian countryside! First, underground seems like the perfect place to hide because of the web of underground tunnels. But Major Duesen will not give up after several attempts to capture the Jews. This finally causes the community to move to another cave called Priest’s Grotto. This is actually a good change because it has more space to do things and they can cook without smoke giving them away. But there is a crazy ending, followed by an epilogue.

I liked this novel because it was about a very important time in history-TONS of people were killed(#sad)! I also liked that this book shows two points of view (still with a narrator, though). One chapter about Anton, the next about Major Duesen, and so on. I didn’t love that this book wasn’t very challenging.

This book would appeal to girls and boys at ages 8-12. I rate this book 4 ½ stars because of how the book was organized and the thrilling events.

When you read this book, you will become more courageous and have a better understanding of war (more specifically, World War Two).