Fall of the Red Star, The
Gr. 7^-9. Fourteen-year-old Stephen, an aspiring musician, becomes a freedom fighter in the Hungarian rebellion against the Soviets in 1956. He and his friends learn to make Molotov cocktails, kill (despite agonizing remorse), and make coffins and bury the dead. Stephen's personal life is also in an uproar: he helps deliver his sister Maria's baby, and his father returns after being in prison for years. There's a thrilling escape, based on the experiences of Szablya's family, with Stephen's family fleeing by truck, by boat, and on foot through a swamp. The authors do a good job of conveying the horrors of modern-day urban warfare, which turns familiar surroundings into a battle zone, and readers learn some recent history as well as gain poignant insight into the making of everyday heroes. Glossary included.Susan Dove Lempke