Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow

NONFICTION CATEGORY

Hitler Youth is the nonfiction account of the indoctrination process of the children of Nazi Germany during World War II. Bartoletti uses powerful photos, journal entries, letters, and interviews to bring the accounts to life. I enjoyed that it provides a less black-and-white Nazis-were-all-unmitigatedly-evil point of view by giving voice to the doubts of some of the youth and providing a view into the world of fascism and its effect on children. This is a valuable book for all readers in that it provides a nuanced view of Nazi Germany from a new and fresh perspective: the youth. While this might help YA readers to relate, it's also eye-opening for adults. The photographs are particularly powerful.