I don’t know how I managed to forget to post this after I reviewed it. This is the perfect book for fans of suspenseful non-fiction. This one is a page-turner narrative about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor and pacifist who became a most unlikely hero during World War II and who took part in a plot to kill Hitler.

This book was written by the a National Book Award finalist, Patricia McMormick, author of Sold and Never Fall Down. McCormick is also the co-author of the young reader’s edition of  I Am Malala. While it is primarily for younger readers, high school students will also gain from reading it.

It was April5, 1943, and the Gestapo would arrive any minute. Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been expecting this day for a long time. He had put his papers in order – and had left a few notes specifically for Hitler’s men to see. Two SS agents climbed the stairs and told the boyish-looking Bonhoeffer to come with them. He calmly said goodbye to his parents, put his Bible under his arm, and left. Upstairs there was proof, in his own handwriting, that this quiet young minister was a part of a conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler.

This compelling, brilliantly researched account includes the remarkable discovery that Bonhoeffer was one of the first people to provide evidence to the Allies that Jews were being deported to death camps. The narrative takes readers from his privileged childhood to the studies and travel that would introduce him to peace activists around the world – eventually putting this gentle, scholarly pacifist on a deadly course to assassinate one of the most ruthless dictators in history.

The Plot to Kill Hitler provides fascinating insights into what makes someone stand up for the right when no one else is standing with you. “What should I do?” is a question each generation must answer over and over again.

With black and white photographs, fascinating sidebars and thoroughly researched details, this book should be essential reading for all middle school students.