Just as the Nazis are rising to power, Helmuth Hübener, a German schoolboy, is swept up in every the swashbuckling bravado of his time. The handsome stormtrooper uniforms, the gleaming jackboots and armbands, the rousing patriotism all provide to pull him into this bright new world filled with promise and wish. In the beginning his patriotism is normally unwavering. But each day the privileges of people around Germany are diminishing. Jews are threatened and their companies are getting destroyed. The reality continues to be censored, and danger lurks everywhere. Anyone can turn on you. The world has turned ugly: Patriotism means denouncing others, like means hate, and speaking out means treason. How much longer can Helmuth keep silent? Told in flashback, Newbery Honor Reserve author Susan Campbell Bartoletti magnificently explores the life of the heroic German youth who dared to stand up against the Nazi routine.