The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club

A Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Winner

At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: the boys' exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself, The Boys Who Challenged Hitler is National Book Award winner Phillip Hoose's inspiring story of these young war heroes.

This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.

Author: Phillip Hoose
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
Published: 05/12/2015
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780374300227
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 7.1
Point Value: 7
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 174400 / Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club


Award: Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards - Honor Book
Award: Texas Lone Star Reading List - Commended
Award: Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award - Honor Book


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 03/16/2015
Kirkus Reviews 04/01/2015
Booklist 04/15/2015 pg. 42
School Library Journal 05/01/2015 pg. 138
Shelf Awareness 05/15/2015
Voice of Youth Advocates 06/01/2015 - Recommended - Better Than Most
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2015 pg. 156
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 07/01/2015
New York Times Book Review 09/13/2015 pg. 22
New York Times Book Review 09/20/2015 pg. 26
PW Children's Starred Reviews 12/02/2015 pg. 116
Kirkus Best Young-Adult Books 12/01/2015 pg. 57
Booklist Ed Choice Youth 01/01/2016 pg. 12

About the Author
Phillip Hoose is the author of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, a National Book Award winner, a Newbery Honor Book, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, a YALSA Finalist for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. His other books include Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, also a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book; The Boys Who Challenged Hitler, a Sibert Honor and Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Winner; and We Were There, Too!, a National Book Award finalist. Mr. Hoose lives in Portland, Maine.