Soldier X [Hardcover]

Don L. Wulffson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2001

As World War II rages, sixteen-year-old Erik Brandt finds himself on a train traveling to Russia. He's one of the hundreds of thousands of German boys being sent to the Eastern Front by Hitler-since no men are left to fight. Trained as an interpreter and not a soldier, Erik manages to survive the combat, but only by slipping into a dead enemy's uniform, and posing as a wounded Russian. Now the young German must keep up his charade....

Soldier X is based on a conversation author Don Wulffson had with a German war survivor. The result is a thoughtful and compelling novel that takes readers inside the mind of a boy who must fight and even die for a war he doesn't believe in.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wulffson (Point Blank; The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle) poses haunting questions of allegiance, not only for his characters but for readers, with this behind-enemy-lines look at WWII. Veteran and teacher Erik Brandt's students deem him a hero, but he confides to readers that in WWII he fought for the Germans--not the Americans. He then flashes back to March 21, 1944, when at age 16, Erik, the son of a (deceased) German father and Russian mother, and a member of the Hitler Youth, boards a train bound for battle in Russia. Erik's idealism quickly fades as he witnesses firsthand the Third Reich's brutal treatment of Jews, the casualties of war (a nurse carrying a severed human leg) and the everyday compromises necessary to survive (the soldiers eat rats for sustenance). One of the most chilling quotes in the novel comes from a seasoned soldier when the teenaged reinforcements arrive at their post: "All the men are dead.... Now they are sending us boys." Wulffson effectively lays the groundwork for Erik's one chance for survival after a bloody German defeat in battle: Erik dresses in a dead enemy's clothes and, thanks to his fluency in Russian, passes as a Russian with amnesia, known as "X," in a Russian hospital. There he meets a beautiful nurse, Tamara, and although their love affair is not always convincing, the questions their relationship raises about loyalty (when she discovers Erik's true identity) are just as compelling as those found elsewhere in this riveting novel. With well-researched and meticulously recorded details of life under fire, Wulffson urges readers to look past the outer trappings of the enemy to discover the human being inside the uniform. Ages 10-14.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-In this gritty novel of World War II, 16-year-old Erik Brandt is forced to fight for the emaciated German army, and because of his knowledge of the Russian language, he is sent to the Russian front. The train trip that Erik and the other young men take is symbolic of their transition from child to man. These boys are sent to the front with only a few weeks of basic training and the directions to kill or be killed. After the first battle, Erik makes the life-altering decision to take the uniform of a dead Russian soldier and pretends to be Russian for most of his remaining time as a soldier, surviving serious wounds and finding the love of his life while he recuperates in a war hospital. There he pretends to have amnesia and takes the moniker "Soldier X." When the hospital is attacked, Erik and his girlfriend escape. After a harrowing journey filled with enemy encounters, they find a safe house in Czechoslovakia and eventually make their way to Berlin. The story is framed with a prologue and epilogue from Erik's perspective as an old man, and is full of his angst over killing others and having survived the war. This novel, which is based on a true story, will find an audience among readers who are not put off by the horrors of war and who would like to read about World War II from a different perspective.-Cheri Estes, Detroit Country Day School Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile; No Edition Stated edition (March 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067088863X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670888634
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #637,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Separate Peace on the Eastern Front, January 15, 2008

By 

Ken C. (MA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Soldier X (Mass Market Paperback)

In his native Germany, he's 16-year-old Erik Brandt, but when he's sent to the eastern front in the desperate waning days of WWII, Erik's bilingual upringing (one set of grandparents is Russian) allows him to become Aleksandr Dukhanov. The problem? With the front shifting weekly due to offenses and counteroffenses, Erik/Aleksandr finds himself confronted one moment with one side, one moment with another, as he is torn loose as a refuge after graphically-described attacks.

Interesting? You bet. As a war writer, Wulffson has done his homework. The tale of a boy forced to be a man is common enough in this genre, but this particular boy (who adopts X as a nickname) is an especially compelling case, and Wulfsson's afterword tells us it was based on a real case. Certainly the history he cites is accurate, and the descriptions of trench warfare are eerily realistic as well.

Eventually this war story morphs into a war/love story with the introduction of Tamara, whom X works beside in a makeshift Russian hospital. But the spirit of the book remains with the war, and the theme is deeply entrenched in the ironies of a soldier who can not only fight equally and reasonably for BOTH sides, but can befriend citizens and fighters for both sides as well. The enemy, then, is war itself -- war and the hell it unleashes.

This book has little profanity but much violence. Still, it is well-written, and reluctant readers (especially boys) who are interested in history and war will quickly become spellbound by the narrative. The novel can be enjoyed by adults as well as teens. A real winner, X marks the spot -- and if you had any misconceptions about war being a romantic and exciting thing, SOLDIER X will strike it out of you forever.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bye Bye arm, April 22, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Soldier X (Mass Market Paperback)

The book soldier x is about a 15 year old half russian half german boy named Erik, who was forced to join the german army. During the war towards the end of the book he gets his arm blown off. I recomend this book with five stars. The book is action filled and each wound that Erik gets is gory and well decribed. The background was easy to see because of the detail,such as when they are in an army truck going to a town they are attacked by four russian planes and a boy sitting in front of Erik gets shot in the face and Erik is sprayed in the face with brain juice. Another time when he and his girlfrind are in a russian town American soldiers mistake them for german soldiers and shoot the girls in the head and Erik in the elbow and mouth, that is when they have to amputate his arm. This is one of the best books I have ever read and anyone that says that it is a bad book is insane, at least if they like war books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book for both teens and adults., November 7, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Soldier X (Mass Market Paperback)

Soldier X is a powerful and gripping tale of the hard times of a boy named Erik Brandt who is drafted in Hitler's army and is aboard a train with about a dozen other young men on their way to war. The train is bombarded in a Russian air attack, in which several of the German platoon members are killed. Later, when they arrive at the barracks, they face another attack by the Russians in which more of the platoon members are killed. Then, out on the battlefield, in foggy weather blinding all those who tried to fight, the Russians come at them again with tanks and other weapons that end up killing even more of the few remaining soldiers in Erik's platoon. Under the influence of extreme fright and confusion, Erik ends up behind enemy lines and has to scavenge the uniform of a dead Russian boy to avoid getting killed when the other Russians looked for German survivors. He was recognized as a wounded Russian and was taken to a hospital where he fell in love with the nurse: Tamara. Then the hospital gets attacked by Germans who force all those inside to evacuate, including Erik and Tamara. They run away from attacks in different countries, until they find a German woman who takes care of them for a while before they end up in an American hospital. Erik ends up getting one arm amputated and marrying Tamara.
Overall, this is a great book to read whether you're looking for a complex story to keep you enticed for hours, or you want a book that portrays a real life situation in full drama. Highly recommended.