I learned about the Holocaust in middle school, but I sure wish this book had been around then because the powerful story has stuck in my mind far longer than the details I learned in my social studies textbook. The story of Lida, a young Ukrainian girl separated from her family and forced into a labor camp, will draw you in from the first page. At times it will feel like you are right there with her. It will be a welcome reprieve from tragedy when you get to set the book down, knowing that many people who lived through this tumultuous time did not have that luxury. An important read for young and old. ( )

A well done exploration of the life of a child slave laborer in the latter half of World War II. I don't normally read this genre (I get that the Nazis were despicable, and don't enjoy messing with my emotions), but was intrigued by the idea of tampering with the Nazi bombs. This turned out to be a very minor part of the book though. I appreciated that the author portrayed a realistic account of the horrors of being a Nazi prisoner, but didn't go over the top either. There were times where a sentence or two would communicate everything it needed to, and if you managed to miss that you could move on. For example, if I tracked the time correctly, I think the majority of 1944 was spent as a prisoner in worse than the labor camp. But very little page time was given to it. I also appreciated that it gave a (though necessarily much abbreviated) conclusion over a few months and then suddenly years as a refugee before neatly wrapping up. The post-Allied-arrival period is not a period I normally hear about.

I'm going to disagree with a few tags and reviews. This isn't a book about the Holocaust. There is a Jewish character, but she keeps that identity hidden. There are various types of prisoners for various reasons, but it's not because they're Jews. This isn't a concentration camp. It's a work camp. They're here to be useful and forcibly help the Nazi war effort. I appreciated this. The concentration camp story has been well told. But the plight of Ukrainian children being traumatized both by the Soviets and then the Nazis and then again by the Soviets (there's a late plot about whether it's safe to go home to Ukraine or not) is a less told tale. ( )

A solid and fast paced WWII book, focusing on the plight of Ukrainians who were captured by the Nazis and enslaved in work camps. Appealing for historical detail and engaging characters. I sometimes felt as if Lida was a little too generous and unselfish, but I can also see the joy that generosity gave her and how her kindness to others was a form of empowerment. ( )

The Book “Making Bombs for Hitler” by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch was published in 2017. “Making Bombs for Hitler” is about a young girl named Lida, who was taken away from her grandmother along with her younger sister, Larissa, who is then also taken away from Lida, Lida then promises to find Larissa quickly but instead gets taken to a concentration camp where she has to earn her living by using her very precise hands to sew and earn the respect of the guards, then when Lida is recognized for her precise and delicate hands she is promoted to making bombs for the Germans, Lida and some of her friends try to sabotage a bomb, but end up blowing up the concentration camp. By the end of the book, Lida doesn’t get back with her sister. In my humble opinion, this book is great for people who are not independent or don’t know how to take care of themselves, after Lida is taken to the concentration camp she is forced to socialize with the kids already there and to get food and shelter the best way she can, to do this Lida wasn’t afraid of lying about her age to get the shelter and food she needed since the kids that didn’t answer their age truthfully would get shot, Lida also thought about the consequences of telling the truth and telling a lie, and determined which outweighed the other which showed she was capable of taking decisions herself without the help of an adult.

If I had to give a rating to this book, I would give it five stars. ( )

Making Bombs for Hitler is my favorite Holocaust book. Lida has a younger sister and her mother was shot by the Nazi’s for hiding a Jew. Lida was taken from her grandmother's house to a concentration camp. There, Lida worked with a needle and thread. Then, a group of girls was taken to make bombs. There, she fills and helped the other girls there. Lida finds her sister, and they escape.

Opinion:
I love this time in history. I loved how they showed me what life was really like in a camp. Lida showed me how easy it was to enjoy little things in dark times. I love stories that show how hard it was to reunite with your family. Lida is my favorite character because there is not really a lot of characters in this book that's one of my favorite kind of books. I don’t understand why the author didn’t give a little back story. This is my favorite history book. ( )