Westfallen
Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares
Simon & Schuster
Published September 17, 2024
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About Westfallen
From #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author Ann Brashares and her brother Ben Brashares comes an action-packed middle grade alternate history thriller that asks what it would be like to wake up in present-day America if Germany had won World War II.
Henry, Frances, and Lukas are neighbors, and they used to be best friends. But in middle school, things can change fast—Frances has become an emo art-girl, Lukas has gone full sports bro, and Henry has gone sort of nowhere. But when a dead gerbil brings them together again, the three ex-friends make an impossible discovery: a radio buried in Henry’s backyard that allows them to talk to another group of kids in the same town…on the same street…in the same backyard…seventy-nine years in the past.
The kids in 1944 want to know all about the future: are there jetpacks? Laser guns? Teleportation? Most of all, they want to know about the outcome of the war their dads and brothers are fighting in. Henry and his friends are cautious—they’ve all seen movies about what happens when you disrupt the fabric of time—but figure there’s no harm in telling them a little bit, just enough so they can stop worrying so much. And, at first, everything seems fine. Nothing’s changed—well, nothing so big they can’t contain it, anyway.
Until Henry, Frances, and Lukas wake up on May 6, 2024, to an America ruled by Nazis. They changed history. And now it’s up to them to change it back.
My Review
The radio that connects kids from two different time periods sets up this novel’s unique approach to World War II historical fiction. It allows readers to compare and contrast differences in American suburban life in 1944 versus 2023, which I thought was pretty cool.
The story alternates between Henry’s perspective in 2023 and Alice’s point of view in 1944. These scenes remain pretty short, with sometimes three or so per chapter. While the plot requires a bit of willing suspension of disbelief (for example, the kids convince an adult to help them stage a poorly planned jailbreak), the story stays focused on the actions of its younger characters for the most part. The kids get to be the heroes faced with preserving the victory of the Allied forces and keeping the United States from falling into German control permanently.
I didn’t expect the book to be a series opener, so when the setup for the next book emerged in the final chapter, that took me a bit by surprise. I’m curious to see where the series goes and would love to see it explore other possible alternate histories in the same time periods.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.
Representation
Lukas is Jewish. Henry is biracial.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
None.
Spiritual Content
None.
Violent Content
Henry sees evidence that someone beat up a child. Jewish people are forced to work and/or imprisoned.
Drug Content
None.
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This sounds interesting and a good way to bring history into the classroom too. I have a friend who teaches 5th grade and he loves alternate history books like this for adults. Can’t wait to tell him about this one- as it may be something he would want to share with his class. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Stephanie! Sorry about the error message. Your comment did come through, though. I’m really glad to hear the book could be useful for a teacher. That sounds like a really cool idea. 🙂