Boy, Resisting - Silent, Spy, Survivor? - J.H. Foster - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: J.H. Foster

ILLUSTRATOR: James Warwood

SERIES: Rebels and Resistance

GENRE: WWII Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: November 7, 2025

RATING: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: An upper middle-grade WWII novel with scattered illustrations. An appealing young protagonist and a good plot. Works well in complement with its partner book. One half of a parallel duology, with this novel being aimed at older tweens and teens, and its partner aimed at adult readers.

Plot Preview:

1938. After witnessing a scary incident involving a Nazi officer, Freddie decides that it is better for him to stop talking. When his mother Hannah decides to leave Austria and move to Paris in search of her old best friend, Freddie isn't happy about having to leave his old life behind. Life in Paris is better in some ways because his Mama has found a job and they have a shelter over their heads and food in their stomachs. But when the Nazis come, even this security is threatened. Will Freddie’s Jewish heritage endanger him and his loved ones?

The story comes to us in Freddie’s first-person perspective.

The 'Rebels and Resistance' series offers a pair of interconnecting novels, where each book stands alone and yet works in sync with the other. This novel comes from a young Jewish boy’s perspective and aims at readers aged 10-14.

Though both the books work as standalone stories, they seem to be designed to work as complements to each other. Both books have mostly the same characters, settings, and timeline. But much to my surprise, while there are a few scenes common to both books, some scenes that were present in Hannah’s story, ‘Sewing Resistance - Seamstress, spy, survivor?’ are missing from this one, while this contains several scenes that weren’t even mentioned in the other book. As such, I didn’t feel any déjà vu reading the novels back to back. if you are reading only one of the two novels, you won't face cliffhangers, but you will miss out on certain filler information. I had mentioned in my review of ‘Sewing Resistance’ that the plot spread itself too thin and didn’t go in-depth. Reading ‘Boy Resisting’ made me realise that some of the necessary details have been supplied in this storyline. It helped answer some of the queries I had while reading the other novel. I loved getting to know Kat better in this story.

Of the two novels, this one worked somewhat better for me. One reason for this was that Freddie is an endearing character. He tells us of his general life as well as the extraordinary developments without going overboard on the historical content. At the same time, he also has a sense of humour that is evident through his writing as well as his illustrations. (Yes, this novel has several illustrations that show Freddie’s creative mind and his keen sense of imagination. I tend to overlook such illustrations these days while reading, but the few that I noticed were really cute and even funny.) Freddie doesn’t hesitate to tell the truth about his feelings, which could be because he is writing in his personal notebook. His honest emotions elevate the overall novel.

As a WWII story, the book is somewhat milder, considering its target audience. Political content is referred to, but there are no historical infodumps that might end up boring young readers. At the same time, the book doesn’t shy away from the darker facts about the WWII and the brutalities committed by Hitler’s Nazis. There is ample opportunity for learning and for researching beyond the content provided.

We supposedly hear the story from Freddie’s notebook entries. His writing voice is great in its young voice, with plenty of repetition, rhetorical questions, exclamation marks, and exaggerated emotions. Of course, sometimes, the novel strays from the ‘journal entry’ tone and seems more like a regular novel. But many chapters do feel like genuine notebook entries written by a youngster.

That said, certain things could have improved my experience. Freddie’s speech has some anachronisms that would more suit a Gen-Z kid than one from the silent generation. Freddie’s age is not specified in the book (as far as I remember), and his voice sounds the same over the 6-7 years that the story covers – this is a major flaw as some growth should have been made evident directly or indirectly.

The parting note by the author is quite helpful in understanding the truth behind the fiction. I especially loved the ‘Truth or Lies’ section. (Possibly a sanitised version of co-author James Warwood’s Truth or Poop series, which I thoroughly enjoyed.)

Overall, I had a better time reading this as Freddie won my heart. His external silence that kept him a shadow in ‘Sewing Resistance’ belies his clever mind and his internal apprehensions that come out so clearly in this book.

Relatively few WWII novels are aimed at the tween/teen segment. This book can provide several opportunities for learning about historical atrocities as well as greater awareness of the discrimination prevalent in society then and now.

Recommended to youngsters interested in reading about a brave protagonist in a challenging historical situation. Given that the two books of this duology work in sync with each other, this pair of novels could provide a great discussion opportunity for parent-child buddy reads or teacher-student discussions on WWII-related topics.

3.5 stars, rounding up wherever applicable for Freddie.

My thanks to the authors for providing me with a complimentary copy of “Boy Resisting”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The two indie authors behind this clever concept of paired WWII novels aiming at two distinct age groups have an ongoing (As of August 2025) Kickstarter campaign for this series. For more details, visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/janfoster/exciting-uplifting-ww2-french-resistance-duology