The War Below

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Overview

This companion novel to Skrypuch's Making Bombs for Hitler follows a boy who joins the underground Ukrainian resistance in the fight against Hitler.

The Nazis took Luka from his home in Ukraine and forced him into a labor camp. Now, Luka has smuggled himself out — even though he left behind his dearest friend, Lida. Someday, he vows, he'll find her again.But first, he must survive.Racing through the woods and mountains, Luka evades capture by both Nazis and Soviet agents. Though he finds some allies, he never knows who to trust. As Luka makes difficult choices in order to survive, desperate rescues and guerilla raids put him in the line of fire. Can he persevere long enough to find Lida again or make it back home where his father must be waiting for him? Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, author of Making Bombs for Hitler, delivers another action-packed story, inspired by true events, of daring quests and the crucial decisions we make in the face of war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338233025
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	04/24/2018
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,128,580
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

MARSHA FORCHUK SKRYPUCH is a Ukrainian Canadian author acclaimed for her nonfiction and historical fiction, including Making Bombs for Hitler (Faire des bombes pour Hitler), The War Below (Soldat clandestin), Stolen Child (Enfant volée,et), and Don't Tell the Enemy (Ne dis rien l'ennemi). Marsha lives in Brantford, Ontario, and you can visit her online at www.calla.com.

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Read an Excerpt

My eyes flew open but my arms and legs refused to move. Where was I? The star-peppered sky loomed huge above me. One of the stars grew bigger and brighter and that's when I truly woke up.It was heading right for me.My muscles screamed as I rolled off the road and fell down into a ditch. The ground shook as the bomb hit, frighteningly close. Ignoring the pain, I pulled myself onto my feet. Where I had lain just seconds ago was now a smoking pit.A bigger bomb landed somewhere in the distance, lighting up the farmers' fields and a patchwork of familiar factories up ahead.Another white explosion on the road. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground.What madness had made me escape? Yes, it had been harsh at the labor camp, and yes, people like me who were given the worst jobs rarely survived. But my friend Lida was back there. Maybe I should have stayed in the hospital. Maybe they wouldn't have killed me.Poor Lida. Even though she had urged me to go, I felt like such a bad friend for deserting her.She thought of me as her big brother Luka and I loved her with all my heart. Was she sleeping safe in her barracks right now? I hoped that she would understand why I had no choice. Josip hadn't been badly injured, yet the care he received hadn't made him any better. I didn't trust them at the hospital. So when the chance came for me to get out, I had to do it. Maybe Lida would escape somehow as well.Surely the war would end soon, and I had to get back to Kyiv to find my father. I'd walk the whole way there if I had to.

Editorial Reviews

03/05/2018
In this compelling work of historical fiction, Skrypuch (Making Bombs for Hitler) conveys the brutality faced by European citizens caught between the Soviets and the Nazis during World War II. In a frank, unflinching voice, Luka recounts being forced from his Ukrainian village to work in a Nazi labor camp, which he escapes by hiding in a truck full of corpses. Luka travels cross-country on foot, hoping to return to Kiev to find his pharmacist father, whose lessons in natural medicine (“You have the tools to heal yourself”) help him survive. Eventually, he finds himself in an underground hospital run by the Ukrainian Red Cross. Haunted by flashbacks from 1941, when residents of Kyiv were brutalized first by the communist secret police and then by the Nazis, Luka joins the Ukrainian Insurgent Army: “As long as you’re willing to stand up to Stalin and Hitler, you can work with us.” The youthful innocence of Luka’s narration, despite the numerous atrocities, losses, and betrayals he experiences, underscores the inherent risks of choosing trust and hope. This story, full of numerous acts of compassion and valor, sheds welcome light on a less familiar battleground of World War II. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

2018-02-19
After escaping from a Nazi slave labor camp, all 13-year-old Luka Barukovich wants to do is to get back to his home in Kyiv, Ukraine, in this sequel to Skrypuch's Making Bombs for Hitler (2017)."You have the tools to heal yourself," Luka's pharmacist father used to say, and this wisdom and his resourcefulness help him navigate his way through a kindly couple's farm, a long journey through mountainous German terrain, and a stint in the (literally) underground Ukrainian Insurgent Army, not to mention two displaced persons camps and a misguided return to the Soviet zone after the war. So determined is he to survive that at one point Luka even kills a Nazi soldier. After the war, Luka searches doggedly for his beloved work-camp friend, Lida, as well as his parents. Skrypuch continues to shed light on the double jeopardy that many Ukrainians experienced: first mandated to work in dangerous German munitions factories under Nazi control, only then to be forced postwar to repatriate under Stalin's rule, where anyone who "allowed themselves" (as it's put with heavy irony in the author's note) to be captured by the Nazis was considered a traitor. The subject matter is powerful and grows occasionally quite intense.A page-turning window into a complex piece of World War II history. (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for The War Below: "Skrypuch offers a compelling, visceral novel of survival that provides an unusual view of the war... The suspenseful story carries the reader along to its satisfying conclusion." — Booklist "This story, full of numerous acts of compassion and valor, sheds welcome light on a less familiar battleground of World War II." — Publishers Weekly"A riveting read." — YA Books CentralPraise for Making Bombs for Hitler: "A gripping story that asks: What would you do to survive?" — Alan Gratz, author of Prisoner B-3087 "Inspired by real, historical accounts, this is a powerful, harrowing story of transformation." — Booklist"Skrypuch draws on real-life stories of survivors in telling Lida's poignant tale, and she creates a cast of young people who are devoted to one another in both thought and deed. . . . A well-told story of persistence, lost innocence, survival, and hope." — Kirkus Reviews"The story [has a] strong undercurrent of friendship and loyalty; an author's note gives further background on this important piece of history." — Publishers Weekly "Students will admire Lida's pluck amid such heinous conditions. . . . An absorbing read about the lesser-known Ukrainian experience during World War II, this is a solid choice for curricular ties and for middle school historical fiction collections." — School Library Journal "Skrypuch has written a gripping, emotional novel of one Ukrainian girl's perseverance during the horrors of war. . . . This is a vivid picture of what youth experienced during World War II and the hopelessness of displaced populations of all backgrounds and religions." — VOYA

Praise for The War Below:

“The subject matter is powerful and grows occasionally quite intense. A page-turning window into a complex piece of World War II history.” — Kirkus Reviews

“In this compelling work of historical ficition . . . [t]he youthful innocence of Luka’s narration, despite the numerous atrocities, losses, and betrayals he experiences, underscores the inherent risks of choosing trust and hope. This story, full of numerous acts of compassion and valor, sheds welcome light on a less familiar battleground of World War II.” — Publisher’s Weekly

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