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Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1954-01-22
Gender: male
Nationality: England
UK
Places of residence: Beckenham, Kent, England, UK
Education: University of Cambridge (Queens' College)
Relationships: Bradman, Tom (son)

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Reviews

Bruno and Frida by Tony Bradman

In a Nutshell: A poignant story that is relevant historically as well as contemporarily. But it might be too dark for younger children. (Official _target age group is 8 )
**Please note that this review contains spoilers. I don’t like to reveal plot spoilers any time but in this case, parents/teachers need to know certain information before they can take a call about the book. If you are reading this on the Goodreads app, please note that the spoilers don’t get hidden. I have marked the spoilers section.**

Story:

1945, East Prussia. At the final stages of WWII, Russian soldiers are making their way from the East through German villages and ruthlessly killing locals as a kind of retaliation. Eleven year old Bruno and his mother realise that the only way to survive is to flee their village. They decide to walk towards Kiel (near the Northern border with Denmark) where his grandparents reside. But after some gruesome attacks, Bruno finds himself alone. While moping, he comes across a dog, who is strapped with explosives and sent into battle as a suicide bomber. But Bruno realises that rather than being a weapon, she is just as scared as him. Will their new friendship help them survive the travails of war?

The book begins with a poignant quote by Heinrich Bôll:

“If the dead could speak, there would be no more war.”

Just as this quote makes one think, the entire book will provide many situations where one feels the need to pause and ponder. This isn’t an easy story to read as it is much darker than a typical children’s book. A part of me feels that children need to be aware of historical mistakes. That’s how we all improve as a unified global race and hopefully won’t repeat the same mistakes in future. But, how soon is too soon to learn of such atrocities? There’s no right answer to this.

Mentioning some points from the book that might help you decide if you want your children to go for this.

***********SPOILERS BEGIN HERE*************

• Bruno’s mom dies in an attack when a Russian fighter plane shoots at German civilians. Another old man who is helping Bruno after his mother’s death gets caught in a bomb explosion and the book says: “he just seemed to vanish”.

• I hadn’t heard of the Russians using dogs as suicide bombers, so that was a big shocker. I don’t know how children will feel reading about dogs being used as weapons. The scene where Frida the dog is strapped with explosives could be scary. (Nothing happens to her, so there’s no gruesome animal death thankfully. She dies of old age towards the end of the book.)

• Towards the second half, the story goes much into detail about German refugees and their troubles. No one talks of German refugees from Eastern Germany. Hardly anyone is even aware of their struggles. So this part was eye-opening and hard-hitting. Could be emotionally intense.

• There are many war-related atrocities mentioned. Some are just hinted at but some are quite forthright. (eg."Millions of men, women and children had been brutally murdered and their bodies burned in ovens.")

• Bruno’s dad is a soldier with the German army and Bruno frequently suffers from guilt pangs over what cruelties his father might have committed under Hitler’s dominion. As his father never returns home, this angle isn’t resolved.

• Bruno does find his grandparents so it’s not exactly a sad ending. But the difficulties he faced while locating them are a bit traumatic.

• At the end, the story moves into the contemporary time period and links the experiences of the German refugees with that of Syrian refugees today. While I love how the link was established in such a logical way, I feel that the book imposes its opinion on readers rather than allowing them to make an educated call. This is a gray topic that will generate varied responses depending on how you feel about your country opening its borders to refugees.

*************END OF SPOILERS***************

The impact of the story is enhanced by the black-and-white illustrations peppered throughout the book. No illustration depicts any horrifying scene.

The historical note at the end is insightful and provides even more brain fodder to ruminate upon.

I must say this. Regardless of what I feel about the dark nature of this book, my respect to Barrington Stoke continues to increase. They don't shy away from emotionally-intense topics in children's fiction. Their books are thought-provoking and discussion-worthy. Furthermore, their content is always hi-lo (high interest, low ability), meaning the text is edited to suit a lower reading age though the content might be for a higher age group.

I still recommend this book because it contains a story that deserves to be told from an angle that deserves to be known. I would just disagree with the official reading age. As a parent, I would advocate it to teens and above, not middle graders.

4.25 stars.

My thanks to Barrington Stoke and NetGalley for the ARC of “Bruno and Frida”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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RoshReviews | Jul 30, 2024 |