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Resist: A Story of D-Day
Back flap copy:
An exclusive, action-packed story about one girl's daring rescue mission during World War II.
Can Samira survive the dangers of D-Day and find her mother in time?
This book was created exclusively for Scholastic Book Clubs Classrooms.
From a paper accompanying this book pack:
Dear Teacher,
June 6, 1944 -- D-Day-- was one of the most important events in human history. My newest book, Allies, tells the story of that momentous day from the viewpoint of six different young people involved in the Normandy invasion, from soldiers landing on the beaches to French citizens living under Nazi occupation.
One of those characters, Samira Zidane, is a French Algerian girl who is part of the Resistance. She plays a big role in Allies, but there was more to her story that I couldn't fit in the book. The free book you hold in your hands, Resist, is the rest of Samira's story! Samira is one of my favorite characters from Allies, and I loved the chance to dive back into her life and her adventures on D-Day as she goes on a daring rescue mission to find her mom.
Resist is a companion story to Allies. You and your students can read it before or after Allies, or all by itself. And don't worry, it doesn't have any Allies spoilers!
Allies and Resist are both action-packed stories of courage and defiance set against the backdrop of real historical events. And both stories are testaments to the idea, perhaps never proven more definitively than on D-Day, that we are stronger when we work together.
Sincerely,
Alan Gratz
An exclusive, action-packed story about one girl's daring rescue mission during World War II.
Can Samira survive the dangers of D-Day and find her mother in time?
This book was created exclusively for Scholastic Book Clubs Classrooms.
From a paper accompanying this book pack:
Dear Teacher,
June 6, 1944 -- D-Day-- was one of the most important events in human history. My newest book, Allies, tells the story of that momentous day from the viewpoint of six different young people involved in the Normandy invasion, from soldiers landing on the beaches to French citizens living under Nazi occupation.
One of those characters, Samira Zidane, is a French Algerian girl who is part of the Resistance. She plays a big role in Allies, but there was more to her story that I couldn't fit in the book. The free book you hold in your hands, Resist, is the rest of Samira's story! Samira is one of my favorite characters from Allies, and I loved the chance to dive back into her life and her adventures on D-Day as she goes on a daring rescue mission to find her mom.
Resist is a companion story to Allies. You and your students can read it before or after Allies, or all by itself. And don't worry, it doesn't have any Allies spoilers!
Allies and Resist are both action-packed stories of courage and defiance set against the backdrop of real historical events. And both stories are testaments to the idea, perhaps never proven more definitively than on D-Day, that we are stronger when we work together.
Sincerely,
Alan Gratz
59 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
339 people are currently reading
3,064 people want to read
About the author
Alan Gratz
44books4,324followersAlan Gratz is the bestselling author of a number of novels for young readers. His 2017 novel Refugee has spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list, and is the winner of 14 state awards. Its other accolades include the Sydney Taylor Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Award, a Charlotte Huck Award Honor, and a Malka Penn Award for Human Rights Honor. Refugee was also a Global Read Aloud Book for 2018.
Alan’s novel Grenade debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list, and his most recent book, Allies, debuted at number two on the list and received four starred reviews. His other books include Prisoner B-3087, which was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Readers pick and winner of eight state awards; Projekt 1065, a Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book of 2016 and winner of five state awards; Code of Honor, a YALSA Quick Pick for Young Readers; and Ban This Book, which was featured by Whoopi Goldberg on The View.
Alan has traveled extensively to talk about his books, appearing at schools and book festivals in 39 states and a half-dozen countries, including Brazil, Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, and Switzerland, and has been a Writer in Residence at Tokyo’s American School in Japan, the James Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, and the Jakarta Intercultural School in Indonesia.
Alan was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the 1982 World’s Fair. After a carefree but humid childhood, Alan attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned a College Scholars degree with a specialization in creative writing, and, later, a Master’s degree in English education. He now lives with his family in Asheville, North Carolina, where he enjoys playing games, eating pizza, and, perhaps not too surprisingly, reading books.
Alan’s novel Grenade debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list, and his most recent book, Allies, debuted at number two on the list and received four starred reviews. His other books include Prisoner B-3087, which was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Readers pick and winner of eight state awards; Projekt 1065, a Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book of 2016 and winner of five state awards; Code of Honor, a YALSA Quick Pick for Young Readers; and Ban This Book, which was featured by Whoopi Goldberg on The View.
Alan has traveled extensively to talk about his books, appearing at schools and book festivals in 39 states and a half-dozen countries, including Brazil, Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, and Switzerland, and has been a Writer in Residence at Tokyo’s American School in Japan, the James Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, and the Jakarta Intercultural School in Indonesia.
Alan was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the 1982 World’s Fair. After a carefree but humid childhood, Alan attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned a College Scholars degree with a specialization in creative writing, and, later, a Master’s degree in English education. He now lives with his family in Asheville, North Carolina, where he enjoys playing games, eating pizza, and, perhaps not too surprisingly, reading books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews
February 20, 2020
This was an amazing book all about world war II. And it was about this girl named Samira who works for the French Resistance. She is trying to save her mom and the other prisoners but she won't be able to until allied attack carries out successfully. I think this book will really get people interested in world war II.
December 21, 2019
It was amazing and action-packed causing me to go WAY past my bedtime to finish this book.
January 4, 2021
It was really good!
😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
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January 19, 2025
This was a very good book 👏👏😃😃😃 but one thing I think the author didn’t need to add were all the parts about people’s skin color…like, for instance; the soldier was white blah blah or; two black soldiers and “the white elderly woman� I mean, nobody cares if someone’s skin is white or black!! I mean, seriously? I don’t sum up a character by his skin color, and I don’t care- no one cares about people’s skin color, it doesn’t matter! People always have to include skin color in everything- no one cares if somebody is black or white- Another thing is…why on earth was there a “three to four year old � boy with a gun in the resistance?…what? Where is that kids mom anyway? So, that was one ridiculous thing…anyway , it was a fine book but those two things were really ridiculous.
July 28, 2024
I read this to my nine year old who is very into military history. It is basically the length of a short story that takes place on D-Day as a French girl in the resistance rescues her mother who is also in the resistance. It is thin and implausible. And it did not seem to especially capture my son's imagination either.
January 23, 2021
Resist: A Story of D-Day by Alan Gratz is the continuation of his book Allies that introduced the character of Samira, a French Algerian girl, who became inadvertently involved in the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion. She had gone out to find where the Nazis had taken her mother and others who were rounded up to be deported or possibly shot when she stumbled on Allied soldiers who had arrived by parachute to take and hold strategic points behind enemy lines. In Resist Samira is still trying to help the allied soldiers as they tried to consolidate their positions to hold until the main landing forces have taken the beaches and begun to move inland to join up with them. Samira's primary focus is still to find and hopefully free her mother while avoiding the heavy combat going on all around her. Can she survive the war going on all around her and find her mother in time? In a similar style from Allies, the author tells the continued story of the D-Day invasion from the viewpoint experienced by different young people involved in the Normandy invasion, from soldiers landing on the beaches to French citizens living under Nazi occupation. Resist, is the rest of Samira's story of courage and defiance set against the backdrop of real historical events.
April 26, 2023
It is tough for me to say I am disappointed in this book, not only because the author is so well-respected but because the era (WW2) is a favorite. Resist is a middle-grade book (ages 8-12) that all should read. But there isn't a lot to it.
Resist follows Samira on her hunt to find and save her mother from certain death at the hands of the Nazis. Along her travels, she runs into a "3 or 4-year-old boy" who not only carries a gun and has the understanding and patience not to shoot it at the Nazis as he and Samira wait for them to pass by, but he then goes on to direct Samira on how to get out of the city and tells her he will be going on by himself to cut communication wires. Sorry - way too far of a stretch there. There are other snippets equally as far-fetched, which have nothing to do with knowledge of the war.
The book is good as it has an appropriate moral ending, and the reader will enjoy it because it is super quick. But, it will fall flat for older youths as there isn't much to sink one's teeth into, even for an 8-year-old, but especially for a 12-year-old.
Resist follows Samira on her hunt to find and save her mother from certain death at the hands of the Nazis. Along her travels, she runs into a "3 or 4-year-old boy" who not only carries a gun and has the understanding and patience not to shoot it at the Nazis as he and Samira wait for them to pass by, but he then goes on to direct Samira on how to get out of the city and tells her he will be going on by himself to cut communication wires. Sorry - way too far of a stretch there. There are other snippets equally as far-fetched, which have nothing to do with knowledge of the war.
The book is good as it has an appropriate moral ending, and the reader will enjoy it because it is super quick. But, it will fall flat for older youths as there isn't much to sink one's teeth into, even for an 8-year-old, but especially for a 12-year-old.
September 4, 2020
Quick read. I need to check out Allies.
September 5, 2020
It’s only a short story that is meant as a companion to Gratz’s Allies, but it was a great read and an even better listen!
September 3, 2021
Resist, written by Alan Gratz is a historical fiction novel about the D-Day invasion in France. The theme of this novel is take risks and do whatever it takes to contribute to a cause. I know this is the theme because of the amount of setbacks the Protagonist encounters, and how she keeps going on.
Samira, a 13 year old girl, accompanied by her stray dog she found, Cyrano, trudge through obstacles and challenges during the second world war in Normandy France. Samira and her mother, for as long as they can remember, were part of the French resistance fighting against the Germans in secret. Samira’s mother gets seized by the Nazis and is sent to camp in Bayeux, which keeps Samira going on her journey because she is bound to save her mother before it is too late. Along the way she encounters Germans, Fake allied airplanes, a glider filled with soldiers, a parade of Nazis and much more. With the help of Cyrano, Samira wouldn't be alive to do what she was meant to do, save France and the rest of the world.
Resist is an action-packed, thrilling, and engaging Novel to Read. The end of each chapter left me on a cliffhanger, no matter the situation, which is a unique and creative way the author writes. For instance in the book, Samira and a boy were hiding in a doorway, with Nazis right outside the street. One of the Nazis began walking towards the door where Samira and the boy were hiding, and then the chapter ends. The cliffhanger that chapter shows is the reason I kept on reading the book. Another reason why this book is highly rated is the action throughout the book. I didn't really come across any part of the book where it got dry and boring. The fast paced action, the thrill, makes this book a better reading experience. An example of fast paced action is when Samira has been walking all day. Dazed by fighting Nazis and witnessing battles, she keeps moving to the next challenge. The fact the character gets barely any rest and a break from action makes the book intriguing and captivating. I like these type of books, and I have a hard time finding similar books to this one. However, Alan Gratz never disappoints, especially with Resist..
Overall, Resist was a wonderful book to read, truly a one of a kind experience. If you like Alan Gratz or enjoy reading about World War 2, Resist is a perfect read for you. I really enjoyed this read and I am certain that you will too.
Samira, a 13 year old girl, accompanied by her stray dog she found, Cyrano, trudge through obstacles and challenges during the second world war in Normandy France. Samira and her mother, for as long as they can remember, were part of the French resistance fighting against the Germans in secret. Samira’s mother gets seized by the Nazis and is sent to camp in Bayeux, which keeps Samira going on her journey because she is bound to save her mother before it is too late. Along the way she encounters Germans, Fake allied airplanes, a glider filled with soldiers, a parade of Nazis and much more. With the help of Cyrano, Samira wouldn't be alive to do what she was meant to do, save France and the rest of the world.
Resist is an action-packed, thrilling, and engaging Novel to Read. The end of each chapter left me on a cliffhanger, no matter the situation, which is a unique and creative way the author writes. For instance in the book, Samira and a boy were hiding in a doorway, with Nazis right outside the street. One of the Nazis began walking towards the door where Samira and the boy were hiding, and then the chapter ends. The cliffhanger that chapter shows is the reason I kept on reading the book. Another reason why this book is highly rated is the action throughout the book. I didn't really come across any part of the book where it got dry and boring. The fast paced action, the thrill, makes this book a better reading experience. An example of fast paced action is when Samira has been walking all day. Dazed by fighting Nazis and witnessing battles, she keeps moving to the next challenge. The fact the character gets barely any rest and a break from action makes the book intriguing and captivating. I like these type of books, and I have a hard time finding similar books to this one. However, Alan Gratz never disappoints, especially with Resist..
Overall, Resist was a wonderful book to read, truly a one of a kind experience. If you like Alan Gratz or enjoy reading about World War 2, Resist is a perfect read for you. I really enjoyed this read and I am certain that you will too.
March 27, 2025
Stars: 3.75 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cover design: 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I liked this book, but for some reason I had to reread some parts multiple times or read it at a really slow pace. Historical fiction isn’t my favorite, so that could be the reason. I liked how the chapters were all really short, with the longest being about 5 pages.
✨A Quote I Liked�:
“But everything in its own time, as her mother would say. No sense in crying before you were hurt.�
Cover design: 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I liked this book, but for some reason I had to reread some parts multiple times or read it at a really slow pace. Historical fiction isn’t my favorite, so that could be the reason. I liked how the chapters were all really short, with the longest being about 5 pages.
✨A Quote I Liked�:
“But everything in its own time, as her mother would say. No sense in crying before you were hurt.�
April 3, 2025
I decided to start my Alan Gratz journey with this short story. I am a huge fan of historical fiction; it's what really ignited my love of reading as a child. WWII was always a subject I found equal parts fascinating and heartbreaking. Samira's bravery as she fights to save her mother was admirable. Her youth made it even more so. This was a fantastic short story that has me running off to purchase Allies next.
April 28, 2021
Samira showed courage during this book, but it was boring at times.
February 7, 2024
Libby: Adorable. And short. Lol. Loved the narrator's voice, too. This is a little novella about WW2.
Read by Vaneh Assadourian. #booksin24
Read by Vaneh Assadourian. #booksin24
September 4, 2024
Even though this is a short story, I know that there were children like her throughout WWI and WWII. True bravery.
December 31, 2024
This was good but could've been a lot longer.
October 1, 2020
Quick read. I can see the appeal to middle schoolers as it jumped right into the action.
November 1, 2021
This is an amazing book in the collection of Alan Gratz's historical fiction stories. It shows how perseverance will go a long way, and how, with enough confidence and persistence, one can do anything.
November 27, 2022
This is a missing scene from Allies, which I loved. I guess focusing so much on one character would have made it unbalanced, but I'm glad to find out what happens to Samira and her mother and Cyrano.
July 26, 2024
3.5 stars
I loved reading Allies. It was a great setup for my visit to Normandy ~ it made it feel much more real. One of my complaints with that book, though, had been that I wanted to hear more of Samira’s story. However, it was a bit disappointing. Allies feel like the stories could have really happened. This one stretched credulity. It seemed like it was written for a younger audience than Allies, but the same group would be reading both books, so they should have been the same. I did enjoy it, it just wasn’t the same quality as the other book.
I loved reading Allies. It was a great setup for my visit to Normandy ~ it made it feel much more real. One of my complaints with that book, though, had been that I wanted to hear more of Samira’s story. However, it was a bit disappointing. Allies feel like the stories could have really happened. This one stretched credulity. It seemed like it was written for a younger audience than Allies, but the same group would be reading both books, so they should have been the same. I did enjoy it, it just wasn’t the same quality as the other book.
October 22, 2019
I received Resist: A Story of D-Day as a freebie with purchase from my Scholastic order.
This novella is best for readers around 5th grade-8th due to the heavier subject matter of World War II.
I haven't (yet) read Allies by Alan Gratz, which is a full-length novel about D-Day. This book, Resist, focuses on one of the characters from Allies and expands on her story a bit more. Apparently she is a spy involved with the French Resistance, and she's on a mission to rescue her mother from the Nazis who have captured her and plan to execute her.
While I think it worked as a stand-alone, it was brief on the details about D-Day and on how on earth this child spy would have information about the impending Allied storming of the beaches. A few days before D-Day, the Allies did reveal an invasion was imminent, but I'm not clear on the level of details they were provided.
As such, I think a young reader might be a bit confused about the details if their only exposure to D-Day was this book. Resist should be read as a supplement to further study.
There was one unfortunate error involving the metric system. The author meant to use meters instead of kilometers.
This novella is best for readers around 5th grade-8th due to the heavier subject matter of World War II.
I haven't (yet) read Allies by Alan Gratz, which is a full-length novel about D-Day. This book, Resist, focuses on one of the characters from Allies and expands on her story a bit more. Apparently she is a spy involved with the French Resistance, and she's on a mission to rescue her mother from the Nazis who have captured her and plan to execute her.
While I think it worked as a stand-alone, it was brief on the details about D-Day and on how on earth this child spy would have information about the impending Allied storming of the beaches. A few days before D-Day, the Allies did reveal an invasion was imminent, but I'm not clear on the level of details they were provided.
As such, I think a young reader might be a bit confused about the details if their only exposure to D-Day was this book. Resist should be read as a supplement to further study.
There was one unfortunate error involving the metric system. The author meant to use meters instead of kilometers.
May 3, 2023
Alan Gratz is geboren in Tenneessee en schreef eerder kinderboeken over gebeurtenissen waar iedereen wel van gehoord of over gelezen heeft maar die door de ogen van kinderen en jongeren anders beleefd worden dan door de ogen van volwassenen.
Over 9/11 schreef ik in mijn recensie: “Alan Gratz weet de lezers, van jong tot oud weer diep te raken door het verhaal en de beleving van de grote gebeurtenissen uit de wereldgeschiedenis terug te brengen tot de wereld van een kind.�
“Er waren heel veel D Days geweest maar deze was de belangrijkste.�
Alan Gratz volgt het verhaal van een aantal jongeren die ieder op hun eigen manier D day, de invasie in Normandië, beleven. De een als dochter van een Franse Spionne en de ander als een van de vele soldaten die op het strand aankomen en beschoten worden door de Duitsers. En een hospik die het leven van de soldaten probeert te redden met de middelen die hij bij zich heeft.
Alle gebeurtenissen spelen zich rondom het strand af waardoor er een breed gedragen verhaal wordt met veel geschiedenisfeiten en veel plottwists.
Diverse onderwerpen worden bespreekbaar gemaakt zoals de rassenscheiding in Amerika of het verschil tussen behandeling van mannen en vrouwen.
De verhalen van de gewonden die Henri tegenkomt op Omaha Beach maken veel indruk.
De sfeer in het boek past bij het verhaal en wat we al weten uit de geschiedenisboeken. Maar Alan Gratz brengt deze geschiedenis dicht bij jouw hart en gevoel. De reacties van de hoofdpersonen. Hoe vriendschap onder druk komt te staan en soms verloren lijkt. Laat personages later terugkomen zodat de lezer weet hoe het met hen afloopt.
Over 9/11 schreef ik in mijn recensie: “Alan Gratz weet de lezers, van jong tot oud weer diep te raken door het verhaal en de beleving van de grote gebeurtenissen uit de wereldgeschiedenis terug te brengen tot de wereld van een kind.�
“Er waren heel veel D Days geweest maar deze was de belangrijkste.�
Alan Gratz volgt het verhaal van een aantal jongeren die ieder op hun eigen manier D day, de invasie in Normandië, beleven. De een als dochter van een Franse Spionne en de ander als een van de vele soldaten die op het strand aankomen en beschoten worden door de Duitsers. En een hospik die het leven van de soldaten probeert te redden met de middelen die hij bij zich heeft.
Alle gebeurtenissen spelen zich rondom het strand af waardoor er een breed gedragen verhaal wordt met veel geschiedenisfeiten en veel plottwists.
Diverse onderwerpen worden bespreekbaar gemaakt zoals de rassenscheiding in Amerika of het verschil tussen behandeling van mannen en vrouwen.
De verhalen van de gewonden die Henri tegenkomt op Omaha Beach maken veel indruk.
De sfeer in het boek past bij het verhaal en wat we al weten uit de geschiedenisboeken. Maar Alan Gratz brengt deze geschiedenis dicht bij jouw hart en gevoel. De reacties van de hoofdpersonen. Hoe vriendschap onder druk komt te staan en soms verloren lijkt. Laat personages later terugkomen zodat de lezer weet hoe het met hen afloopt.
May 10, 2020
There have been many fiction and non-fiction books written about D-Day, from the perspective of commanders, soldiers on the ground and civilians in France. However, this one is written from a quite different perspective. Samira is a young girl living in Villers-Bocage France in early June of 1944. She is a spy for the French resistance and of Algerian descent. Her mother came to France to study law in the hope that she would have a high position in Algeria once the war was over and France granted Algerian independence. Samira hates the Germans, but not as much as her dog Cyrano.
It is before dawn on June 6 and the greatest sea-based invasion of all time is about to be launched. Samira’s mother has been taken by the Germans and Samira knows that the Germans execute their prisoners at dawn. She is desperate to find and rescue her mother and this is about her exploits in doing that. The invasion begins with planes flying overhead, gliders landing and parachutes in the sky, including some dummies named Rupert. Through all of this, Samira remains determined to complete her mission.
Creating a story about the D-Day invasion and telling it from the perspective of a young person of Algerian extraction was an excellent choice of perspective. Generally lost in the stories about the war in Europe is the fact that there were many people in the German-occupied countries that were from other places. Having the Algerians being just as patriotic as the natives is a great plot device.
It is before dawn on June 6 and the greatest sea-based invasion of all time is about to be launched. Samira’s mother has been taken by the Germans and Samira knows that the Germans execute their prisoners at dawn. She is desperate to find and rescue her mother and this is about her exploits in doing that. The invasion begins with planes flying overhead, gliders landing and parachutes in the sky, including some dummies named Rupert. Through all of this, Samira remains determined to complete her mission.
Creating a story about the D-Day invasion and telling it from the perspective of a young person of Algerian extraction was an excellent choice of perspective. Generally lost in the stories about the war in Europe is the fact that there were many people in the German-occupied countries that were from other places. Having the Algerians being just as patriotic as the natives is a great plot device.
February 22, 2025
A companion short story to augment Gratz’s full-length historical fiction Allies, Resist tells of Samira and her efforts to rescue her mother from Nazi imprisonment. The 60 pages only cover two days and one night as Samira heads to Bayeux, the most likely place her mother is being held and includes factual information about Allied dummies being parachuted into the countryside near Normandy with recordings of gunfire and incendiary devices hidden in their paper mache� chests, the successful takeover of a key bridge by American and British soldiers, and Nazis abandoning their stations in response to the D-Day assault.
A great resource to accompany a class study of Allies or simply to expand Samira’s story. However, this appears to be a Scholastic special edition for use by teachers and I am unsure if it will be bound and made available for purchase by libraries or the interested public.
Text is free of profanity and sexual content and violence is appropriate to the subject matter and target age group and is, in fact, limited to the threat of a mass shooting of prisoners, a shovel hit to the head and two Nazis being tied to a tree and left for the Allied soldiers to take into custody.
Thanks for the eARC, Edelweiss and Scholastic.
A great resource to accompany a class study of Allies or simply to expand Samira’s story. However, this appears to be a Scholastic special edition for use by teachers and I am unsure if it will be bound and made available for purchase by libraries or the interested public.
Text is free of profanity and sexual content and violence is appropriate to the subject matter and target age group and is, in fact, limited to the threat of a mass shooting of prisoners, a shovel hit to the head and two Nazis being tied to a tree and left for the Allied soldiers to take into custody.
Thanks for the eARC, Edelweiss and Scholastic.
January 31, 2024
This is a short sequel to Allies, which tells about Samira, an Algerian French girl who helps with the French resistance during World war ll. It takes less than an hour to read.
She is trying to reach her mother who was taken by the Nazis the previous night. She asks some Americans who just crashed in a glider, to help free her mother and the other prisoners, but they had to blow up a bridge. She asked the villagers, but they were too afraid of the Nazis.
Finally, she and a little dog, who had been abandoned, went to find her mother and the other prisoners. The Allies had released dummies in parachutes who emitted war sounds from a black box attached to the dummies bodies.
Samira dropped one into one of the nazi guards who remained behind after the Nazis ran away. The two Nazis were ordering the prisoners to dig their graves before they shot them. It distracted the Nazis so that the prisoners could attack the guards.
She is trying to reach her mother who was taken by the Nazis the previous night. She asks some Americans who just crashed in a glider, to help free her mother and the other prisoners, but they had to blow up a bridge. She asked the villagers, but they were too afraid of the Nazis.
Finally, she and a little dog, who had been abandoned, went to find her mother and the other prisoners. The Allies had released dummies in parachutes who emitted war sounds from a black box attached to the dummies bodies.
Samira dropped one into one of the nazi guards who remained behind after the Nazis ran away. The two Nazis were ordering the prisoners to dig their graves before they shot them. It distracted the Nazis so that the prisoners could attack the guards.
September 24, 2020
Samira is a young French Algerian girl living in Northern France with her mother who has just been captured by the Nazis. It is the onset of the Normandy invasion which Samira and her mother, working with the underground, have been helping to set up. With her mother being held, Samira's only thought is to getting to the town and freeing her. The invasion gets in the way of that and she finds herself in the middle of a very dangerous place. This is a short book that is perfect for fans of Alan Gratz historical adventure books with the inclusion of a girl of color. The author works in so many illuminating facts about the invasion as well as giving us a true taste of the bravery of the French people. I listened to the audio and it would be perfect for a short road trip and give much for families to discuss. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
March 20, 2025
Reading 2025
Book 71: Resist: A Story of D-Day by Alan Gratz
Picked up a signed copy at #NTTBF, this is an upper middle grade historical fiction book. I read Allies, and this book is an expansion of one of the character’s story from Allies.
Synopsis: An exclusive, action-packed story about one girl's daring rescue mission during World War II. Can Samira survive the dangers of D-Day and find her mother in time? This book was created exclusively for Scholastic Book Clubs Classrooms.
Review: I was wondering why I had not seen this book before. I have read a bunch of Alan’s books, but did not remember seeing this one. As the synopsis says it is exclusive. I enjoyed Samira’s expanded story, with all the WWII tidbits that I had not read about before. My rating 4⭐️.
Book 71: Resist: A Story of D-Day by Alan Gratz
Picked up a signed copy at #NTTBF, this is an upper middle grade historical fiction book. I read Allies, and this book is an expansion of one of the character’s story from Allies.
Synopsis: An exclusive, action-packed story about one girl's daring rescue mission during World War II. Can Samira survive the dangers of D-Day and find her mother in time? This book was created exclusively for Scholastic Book Clubs Classrooms.
Review: I was wondering why I had not seen this book before. I have read a bunch of Alan’s books, but did not remember seeing this one. As the synopsis says it is exclusive. I enjoyed Samira’s expanded story, with all the WWII tidbits that I had not read about before. My rating 4⭐️.
January 10, 2021
This ebook only short story that continues a storyline from Gratz's book Allies. It is the early morning hours of June 6, 1944 in Normandy, France and Samira Zidane and an adopted dog she named Cyrano try to evade Nazi soldiers as she tries to get to Bayeux, France where she believes her mother, a French resistance fighter is being held captive. This short story was generated by Scholastic for teachers to use as a book club book. As a reader of Allies it was nice to find out what eventually happened to Samira and her mother, and this story may encourage young readers who have not read Allies to pick it up.
January 30, 2024
Resist: A Story of D-Day written by Alan Gratz, performed by Vaneh Assadourian � a short companion to Gratz’s Allies, this tells the story of Samira as she journeys to save her mother from Nazi execution in the north of France the night before D-Day. Readers will get an up close and personal look at the WW2 Ghost Army both as someone who is duped by them, but also by someone who utilizes it to her advantage. Animal lovers will enjoy Samira’s little companion dog who accompanies her on her travels. Gratz fans will love this little gem. A great way to introduce readers to Gratz’s collection of work. Grades 6-8
August 2, 2024
Before I started this novella, I read a few reviews and I was surprised. I had recently finished the book written before this, Allies, which is the novel about D-Day. I assumed that most of the reviews were not as favorable because they hadn't read the first book. However, I now agree with their reviews. I expected much more of Alan Gratz.
To me this novella felt like more of a character sketch than a complete story. The writing felt rushed and not as polished. After the realistic nature of Allies, the plot for this one felt a little too convenient. Still, I did enjoy it as a follow-up to the book.
To me this novella felt like more of a character sketch than a complete story. The writing felt rushed and not as polished. After the realistic nature of Allies, the plot for this one felt a little too convenient. Still, I did enjoy it as a follow-up to the book.
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