Hitler's Canary [Import] [Hardcover]

Sandi Toksvig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 23, 2005

Based on a true story, this is a gripping, yet humorous account of a daring rescue in occupied Denmark.

April 1940: German troops are pouring onto the streets of Denmark. 12-year-old Bamse and his daring friend Anton can’t resist playing practical jokes on the invading soldiers. When it becomes clear to the people of Denmark that the trouble isn’t going to pass them by, they decide to take action and Bamse and his eccentric family are about to take part in one of history’s most dramatic rescues — smuggling Denmark’s Jewish population across the water to Sweden, and safety.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–7—When Nazi invasion brings a restrictive dictatorship to the fair and free-thinking Danes, Bamse's theatrical family chooses to ignore the increasingly dangerous circumstances in the hope that their gentile family and thespian lifestyle will not be affected. Older brother Orlando sees the writing on the wall and joins the Resistance while Uncle Johann sides with the Nazi sympathizers, hoping for survival through cooperation. Caught in a cage between the British and German fighting, Denmark is dubbed "Hitler's Canary." The increasing number of arrests and likely deportation of all Danish Jews force the Skovlunds to come to terms with reality. Bamse and his Jewish friend Anton begin to work secretly alongside Orlando until Anton's family is forced into hiding. Bamse's political-cartoonist father loses his job and his famous stage-actress mother makes good use of her acting talent to create an effective diversion for the Gestapo searching their home. Through the voice of 12-year-old Bamse, Toksvig mixes in a sardonic humor that adds spice and comic relief to a story about a very perilous and frightening time. Drawing on real events and the experiences of her family, she re-creates an episode in history when many citizens willingly put their lives at risk to participate in the 10-day rescue of the Danish Jews during the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays of 1943. In total, close to 7200 Jews and 689 non-Jews escaped to Sweden. Readable, intriguing, and realistic, with a good epilogue and author's note appended.—Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In this novel based on the experiences of Toksvig's father, the Germans' 1940 invasion of Denmark sweeps a family into heartrending historical drama. Ten-year-old Bamse yearns to take a stand against the occupation like his daring older brother Orlando, despite their father's counsel of quiet cooperation. Gradually, though, the whole family sways to Orlando's position--refusing, along with thousands of other Danes, to be "Hitler's canary" and "just sit in a cage and sing any tune he wants." Mother Marie devises an ingenious subterfuge to shelter neighboring Jews; even blunt Uncle Johann, initially a Nazi sympathizer, does his part to rescue escapees to Sweden--part of the 1943 exodus, elaborated upon in an endnote, in which more than 8,000 were ferried to safety. Though such suspenseful episodes will thrill readers, it is Bamse's growing courage and deepening understanding that drive the story. For additional perspectives on the Danish resistance, suggest Lois Lowry's Number the Stars (1989) and Ellen Levine's nonfiction work Darkness over Denmark (2000). Anne O'Malley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 209 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday UK (August 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385608896
• ISBN-13: 978-0385608893
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,240,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ordinary Danes exhibit extraordinary courage during WWII, May 21, 2007

By 

D. Goodpasture (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitler's Canary (Hardcover)

The not so well known story of how the Danes managed to save most of Denmark's Jews from deportation to death camps is told through the eyes of a 12 year-old. Bamse the son of a dramatic actress and a timid artist is not Jewish but, his best friend Anton is. Demark was not only out gunned but also grossly out numbered by the German invaders. Other than sabotage there was no way they could defend their nation. Bamse's older brother Orlando works for the resistance but, his uncle Johann works for the Nazis. His parents try hard to avoid becoming "involved." Orlando is outraged that his parents along with many of his compatriots are trying to pretend that life in Denmark is normal. Bamse and Anton follow Orlando's lead and join the resistance. The occupation becomes more brutal and it leaks out that the Nazis are planning to round up all the Jews on Rosh ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year, and deport them to death camps. Ordinary people are then forced to take a stand.

What sets Denmark apart from the other European nations of WWII is that, even though there were some traitors, it appears the majority of the Danes stood together. Even several of the Nazi occupiers in Denmark resisted orders to deport the Jews. There were ordinary heroes in other European nations but, not nearly enough. This book is fast-paced, packed with suspense, and can be read in one sitting. Even though it deals with a very serious subject the violence is minimal, there's no sex, and it's spiked with subtle bits of humor. I also highly recommend the film A Day in October. It's very similar to Hitler's Canary.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable historical fiction, June 5, 2007

By 

mimagirl "Miss Erin" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitler's Canary (Hardcover)

Hitler's Canary is the story of the invasion of Denmark by the Nazis in World War II. Bamse's family is a quiet, peaceable family, but when the Nazis arrive, everything changes. His brother Orlando starts doing dangerous work for the resistance while his father believes they should sit the war out. But Bamse's friend Anton is a Jew, and soon working against the Nazis is no longer an option but a necessity.

This book was a fresh and interesting look at the traditional Nazi/Jew story. My favorite parts were the ones that talked about Bamse's mother's eccentric thespian ways, and their life surrounding the theater. I could definitely relate to this quote:

"We lived in a make-believe world and it was hard for me to imagine doing anything else with my life."

The writing was perhaps a little lacking, but the book is still worth reading. If a somewhat simple story, Hitler's Canary was still quite interesting and the characters' heroism inspiring.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from missprint.wordpress.com, May 20, 2007

By 

Miss Print (NYC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hitler's Canary (Hardcover)

Based on accounts of her own grandparents' work in the Danish resistance, Toksvig tells a compelling story of the many Danes who helped smuggle Danish Jews out of the country to Sweden before they were taken to Hitler's Concentration camps. The story revolves around ten-year-old Bamse and his family--a group of "theater people" as he calls them (the story is broken into scenes and acts instead of chapters). The story begins with the German occupation of Denmark in 1940 (when the BBC began to call Denmark "Hitler's Canary" because it was so accomodating) and finishes in 1943, shortly after the resistance foiled Hitler's attempt to seize all the Jews during their Rosh Hashanah dinners.

Toksvig does an excellent job of making these events approachable to a younger audience (the idea of the story came when she was telling her ten-year-old son about her grandparents). The text is clear and concise while maintaining a surprisingly high level of emotional involvement. Several times during the story I found myself tearing up. The characters are vivid without becoming cartoonish and the story is, at its core, a very uplifting one. This book is sure to join other classic children's historical fiction books like Alan and Naomi and Number the Stars which also look at the events of the Holocaust through the eyes of young people.

Also, be sure to read the material after the end of the story to hear about the real Danish resistance and Toksvig's inspiration.