Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis by K.R. Gaddy, 300 pages. Dutton Books (Penguin), 2020. $19.
Content: Language: R (26 swears; 1 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG-13.
BUYING ADVISORY: HS – OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
This is the story of three German teens and their efforts to thwart the Nazis during World War II. Gertrude was raised by parents who had strong Communist political leanings and she watched her parents suffer because of Hitler’s ideologies. She joined a group of local teens who rebelled by distributing flyers and graffiti. Jean loved music and didn’t like conforming to the Hitler Youth programs, so he was attracted to the youth group who liked to go hiking and sing songs, but their non-conforming got them into trouble. Fritz was angry about the way the Nazi’s were abusing the minorities and got braver and braver in his rebellious acts. All three teens suffered for their rebellion but felt like they contributed to the downfall of the Germans.
The beginning of this book was a bit slow, and the information is similar to other World War II books. After the first 50 pages, I got hooked and wanted to find out what happened to these three kids. The violence is hard to read and is upsetting including torture, fighting, beatings and a descriptive vomit eating moment. Because of the content I would put it in the high schools. I wish that there was more at the ending about what happened to Gertrude, Jean and Fritz right after. The author does a great job with the facts, including footnotes with any discrepancies.
Reviewer, C. Peterson
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