28:120 The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow

Set in the late 1930s as Hitler and the Nazis were rising to power and the persecution of the Jews was starting.  We follow Karl, age 11, and his family.  He has just been picked on for the first time at school and been in his first fight.  That evening, he has to help at an art reception at his family's gallery where he meets Max Schmeling, a champion boxer and German hero.  Max ends up making a deal with Karl's father to give Karl boxing lessons.  Now Karl is part of something else, the boxing world, and with that comes the confidence to protect himself and his family.  But times are just beginning to get hard and will get much harder in the years to come.  Now that Max's fame has him hobknobbing with the Nazi's, what will that mean for Karl and his family?

An interesting look at how things began for the Jews in Germany and a story of bravery on the part of many different people.  A quick but powerful read.

Page count: 400p/7,282p ytd/151,702p lifetime