Just So Stories

Scholastic Australia

April 2025

Imprint: Scholastic Inc

ISBN: 9781761649172

RRP: $12.99

If anyone is confused and feels like they have seen this, or heard of it, some years ago, here’s what author Alan Gratz explains:

The physical paperback version of Resist was something I wrote as an exclusive giveaway for Scholastic’s Book Clubs in 2019. Scholastic gave out sets of them for free to teachers who ordered a lot of other books through the clubs. That print edition was never on sale anywhere, and the copies that remain are the free ones teachers and students ended up with from the promotion.

It certainly felt familiar to me although I was definitely more acquainted with Refugee, Ground Zero and Allies. That would be because it continues the story begun in Allies, Gratz’ novel about D-Day, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France and the magnificent turning point of World War II.

Samira may only be a young girl, but she has worked alongside her mother as spies for the Maquis, the French Resistance. The two of them are responsible for delivering the intel about the Allied invasion to the Maquis in hiding, but when Samira’s mother is captured by the Nazis, the girl has a real dilemma.

She must inform the Resistance fighters of the details of the invasion so that they are prepared, but she is also determined to rescue her mother as she knows well that come dawn, the prisoners taken will be summarily executed.

A brief encounter with one British paratrooper is all Samira needs to give her the courage and resolve she needs for her task, especially when he gives her a knife for emergencies. She knows the secret of the parachuting ‘Rupert’ dummies and cleverly works that to her advantage. Even though most of the Nazis have fled before the invasion they know is coming for them, there are still enough left to both guard and excecute the prisoners – as usual, leave no witnesses.

The two in charge of Samira’s mother and the small group with her, are not quite prepared for one smart girl with exploding dummies on her side. At around 60 pages, this a quick read for many kiddos and for those (probably boys especially) who might be reluctant, this is both a good engaging topic and a ‘do-able’ length for them to tackle.

Someone asked me recently ‘why so many war books’ for kids and I answered that for the kids I’ve known and taught, it’s a way for them to try to wrap their head around how such things could happen, and empower them with empathy and impetus to prevent repetitions. I also see how they respond to the always underlying theme of such books that no matter what, we can always have hope. It sustains the human spirit and the worst of circumstances can bring out the best in so many people (although not all as we know).

This gets a 4 🪂🪂🪂🪂 rating for readers from Year 4 upwards.