Hitler’s Secret by William Osborne - ADVISABLE

Osborne, William Hitler’s Secret, 352 p. Chicken House (Scholastic), 2013.  $18.  Violence: PG; Language: G; Mature Content: G.  

Otto and Leni (Not their real names) have been recruited by Great Britain to return to Germany and help them capture someone who may be very important to Hitler.  The pair, strangers to each other, train hard and then catapult themselves into danger.  Someone extremely dangerous has been sent by Hitler to protect the target and once he knows about the teens, he will stop at nothing to end their lives.  

The author is so cagey and secretive about who the person is and what their importance to the Third Reich is, that even after I knew who they were physically, by the end of the book I still had no idea why everyone spent so much time, energy and bodies on trying to capture or retain them.  I think Osborne thought he was being clever by not revealing that bit of information, but instead I think most kids will reach the end and throw the book across the room in frustration – yes, just like I did.  Other than that, the book reads like  a made for TV-movie – lots of action, some plot, tons of explosions and danger.  It was a fun ride – up until those last few pages.  

EL, MS – ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library teacher.