Uprising by Jennifer Nielsen

A master of middle grade, Jennifer Nielsen’s Uprisingwill satisfy tweens with a love of historical fiction, specifically the WWII time period.

This story is set in Poland and tells the tale of Lidia and how drastically her life changes when Poland is invaded by Germany.

Her father joins the Polish army, leaving her to fight for survival with her mother and brother.

Forced out of their home by German officers, Lidia is heartbroken to leave behind her beloved piano.

Finding themselves sharing a one-bedroom apartment right outside the Warsaw Ghetto, Lidia struggles as she sees Jewish friends arrested and moved into the prison camp.

This fuels Lidia’s growing desire to join the resistance. Her brother is already a member, but he refuses to let her join saying she is too young.

Eventually, even he can’t stop her and she begins to work as a courier, smuggling weapons and messages for the resistance throughout the city.

Even when it feels like a losing battle, Lidia and her “resistance” army friends continue to fight the Natzis in order to reclaim Poland from tyranny.

This story was action-packed and revealed a different side of WWII historical fiction that is not as prevalent in middle grade.

I didn’t realize until the end that it is based on a real person!

I rated this 4.5 out of 5 stars, and would highly recommend other books by Jennifer Nielsen.