Resist
Resist: A Story of D-Day by Alan Gratz is a novella companion to his novel Allies. The novel Allies is a D-Day story told from the perspective of several different characters - an American paratrooper, a British soldier, a French resistance fighter, and a Jewish girl.
In Resist the main character is Samira. She is determined to save her mother from the hands of the Nazis who have captured her. Samira’s mother works for the French resistance. Her father has been killed and the thought of losing her mother is too much to bear. Knowing that the invasion is to take place this very night, Samira is hoping to get the help of Allied forces to help release her mom before she is killed at dawn.
After escaping from a Nazi encounter, Samira is on her way to Bayeux to rescue her mother. She sees paratroopers falling from the sky and one is caught in a tree. Samira quickly sets about to help release the paratrooper only to find that it is a dummy named Rupert. The sounds of war are coming from a speaker inside. Once the dummy drops to the ground, he explodes. Disappointed, Samira continues on to come across a glider that crash lands near her in the forest. Thinking it is another false sense of help she almost walks away, but she soon realizes that the men inside are real. Samira then leads them to a bridge they are to capture. Unfortunately, one of the soldiers refuses to assist her in exchange for her help. He explains that he must follow his orders and cannot leave. He does give her food and water for her continued journey.
Samira eventually makes it to Bayeux. Fortunately, due to the coming invasion, the town is devoid of Nazis - except for two who are with the prisoners they are marching out to the woods. Samira follows behind as she comes to the realization that the prisoners, her mother included, are digging their own graves before being shot. Samira’s quick thinking helps save her mother and others. The story ends as they are walking back from the forest to the town as they wait for the liberation of France.
Readers who like historical fiction - particularly World War II will enjoy this quick little read. Alan Gratz does have a full novel set to release in October of 2025 titled War Games: A novel of 1936 Berlin. I certainly plan to add that to my reading list later in the year.
As for Allies, recommended ages 9-13, is a powerful story of courage, loss, sacrifice, and fear. However, as with a majority of Gratz’s novels, I would go on the older side 12+ as the descriptions and depictions of war are portrayed in a real light that may be too much for younger readers or those particularly sensitive to those details. Nevertheless, I would recommend that book for teens who do like this genre.
Click HERE for an Amazon summary of Allies by Alan Gratz
