The Borrowed House (Young Adult Bookshelf Series) [Paperback]

Hilda Van Stockum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000 | Series: Young Adult Bookshelf Series

During World War II a young German girl, member of the Hitler Youth, joins her parents in occupied Amsterdam and comes to realize that the war is about more than national pride and destiny; for some it means starvation, separation from loved ones, and gas chambers.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Bethlehem Books (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883937469
• ISBN-13: 978-1883937461
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book!, June 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Borrowed House (Young Adult Bookshelf Series) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book! it takes place in the Netherlands during World War II. Its about a girl and she's German. She was indocrinated with Pro-Hitler stuff and when she goes to the Netherlands to live with her parents who are actors she learns that Hitler isn't as good as she thinks he is. She learns that Jews aren't bad and that they are just regular people. It also has suspense and excitment! Its really good! Read it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learned discrimination overturned in friendship..., August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Borrowed House (Hardcover)

A book we read in my children's 'Classic Book Club' in their elementary years (15 years ago).

A young German girl who belonged to the Hitler Youth in Germany, reunites with her actor parents who are entertaining German troops in Holland. They are brought to live in a home, filled with beautiful items of furniture, art... and a family portrait; the borrowed house. The mix of characters habitating this house are both good and ugly. Her growing doubts about what she'd been taught to believe about an inferior race, are mingled together in a beautiful story of confronting the evil of discrimination, its' insideous, subtle indoctrination, and the triumph of a mind being set free--- The believable transformation of the heart of an adolescent girl as she confronts 'the enemy'.

This is a book that should never have been allowed to go 'out of print'. It's a wonderful understanding of the roots of discrimination and its' undoing. Should be required reading for all children, combined with class discussion. The world could be a better place.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Eye Opener, August 2, 2000

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Borrowed House (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book about debunking prejudice. It is a nicely told story about how a young girl comes to question, challenge and later renounce the prejudiced notions she had been exposed to. In some ways, I can't help thinking about Ann Frank. She, too, was German/Dutch. This is a lovely little story that will not be forgotten by those who read it. It's a treasure.