From winner of Winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for Friedrich and for readers of Number the Stars and If I Should Die Before I Wake.
Hans and his friend Gunther, are just trying to get through life with Adolf Hitler being elected in Germany. Gunther's father was against Hitler, but eight-year-olds Hans and Gunther join the SS youth program, and later enter the military, where they are swept away by Hitler's regime.