Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Hitler Youth is a historical account of the paramilitary organization of children that are dedicated to the aims of the third Reich.  This is a nonfiction children's book that centers around interviews of twelve former members and their experiences in this organization.  The young boys were what Adolf Hitler wanted because they were more easily influenced and made to believe in the power and the future of the third Reich. The Youth Group was one of the largest groups compromised of children with over 3.5 million. Throughout the book, the author looks at how Hitler was able to gain their loyalty, trust and exploit their passion.  This book is a great tool to use to show students what these children believed in and how they were made to believe was the ultimate truth.  They believed that they were doing the right thing and never did they feel that what they were doing was wrong.  This book makes it easier to understand why the children did what they did; and how they were influenced to be part of a mass murdering machine.  This book is a good resource of nonfiction regarding the WWII that libraries should have in their reference section. Hitler Youth is also the recipient of the 2006 Newberry Honor Award.

A book trailer can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQzIQQcsXcE&t=1s

Teachers can find ways to incorporate this book in their lessons at  https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/exploring-nazi-propaganda-and-hitler-youth-movement

Readers also enjoyed Claudette Calvin: Twice Toward Justice  by Phillip M Hoose and

Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

Other books written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti include Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America

and The Boy Who Dared

Bartoletti, S. C. (2005). Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's shadow. New York: Scholastic Nonfiction.