White Eagles
by Elizabeth Wein
Interest age: 12 to 15
Reading age: 8+
Published by Barrington Stoke, 2019
About this book
It’s the summer of 1939. Germany’s troops have gathered near Poland’s borders and their air force is making increasingly daring forays into Polish air space.
Near Warsaw, eighteen year old twins Kristina and Leopold have completed their basic pilot training and, when Kristina gets her call-up papers, Leopold is pleased for his sister but also just a little a bit envious.
Then the war crashes into their lives in the most brutal way imaginable and, when Kristina has the slimmest chance to escape, she grabs it, little realising that the plane she has stolen is hiding a stowaway. As she embarks on a daring and challenging journey, can sheer determination help to overcome her lack of experience and ensure the outcome is freedom rather than death?
Inspired by a real Polish pilot, this is a war story with a difference. Presented in a super-readable format, it can be read by anyone with an interest in World War II but may appeal particularly to reluctant readers.
Kristina’s escape is fraught with danger and highlights the polarising effects of invasion on a country unwilling to surrender its national identity but under-prepared for the pitiless reality of violent conflict.
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