Beetle Bunker

I love that these books are historical in nature and also about building your self confidence. Sabina shows us that if you put your mind it it you can do more that others think you can. Set in 1961 when I was her same age I cannot imagine even doing half the adventures she does. It's a lesson that during those times children didn't get to be children like we did here in the USA. We were afraid of being bombed and taught about fall out shelters but at least my family didn't lose sleep over it. Not so if like Sabina living lived in Berlin. This is a great series for teen and adult historical novel lovers. Book 3 here I come.

Just like Candy Bombers, Beetle Bunker combines elements of the historical with characters that give insights to struggle, determination, and overcoming obstacles. Sabine is a wonderfully rich character who makes this second installment even better than the first. Erich, the central character in the first book, is grown up and a doctor in East Berlin. Sabine is his much younger sister handicapped by polio. Their family has moved to East Berlin with Oma to care for her as she is bedridden, and her unpleasant, communist-supporting "Uncle" and "Aunt" have chosen to take up residence as well. During this time of turmoil when the Wall was built, Sabine is busy campaigning against the Communists and planning an escape, as well as dodging her "Uncle" and "Aunt" and recruiters who try to force her to join the communist youth organization. Sabine's discovery of a bunker containing the shell of an antique Volkswagon Beetle and a friend at the hospital during her Oma's stay spark off this suspenseful adventure. Elmer's easy-to-read style and enthralling plot twists make getting involved in the history and mystery a true joy. Don't miss this one!

This is book 2 in Robert Elmer's The Wall series. Sabine, Eric's teenage half-sister, is crippled from polio. Life in East Berlin is hard, food is scarce, neighbors spy on each other, and the pressure to join the Soviet youth group is hard to resist. To make matters worse, the Soviets build a wall of concrete and barbwire, sealing off all access to West Berlin. When Sabine falls into a secret underground bunker, she and her friend Willi, a boy about her age, plot to make a tunnel that may lead their families to safety. In Beetle Bunker we feel the desperation of those in the Soviet section of Berlin. The Berlin Wall was a despicable structure, dividing families and destroying personal freedom. Rober Elmer does a good job of making the reader understand just how terrible it really was

Beetle Bunker is, IMHO, even more interesting than it's predecessor. It's fresh, action packed, and continues the saga from book one of The Wall series. Now Erich (from book one) is an adult and he's working in a hospital. His little sister, stricken with polio as a young child and unable to walk without braces, is almost a teenager and very assertive for a young girl. She knows what she wants...and will let nothing hinder her quest. She longs for freedom. Freedom in the west. But she's stuck in the east section of Berlin, the communist sector. So when she finds a bunker from WWII with a Volkswagen Beetle inside, a flicker of hope shines in the darkness. She devises a plan along with a mysterious boy her age named Willi, who has terrible vision and wears very thick glasses. Many times while reading Beetle Bunker I totally forgot I was reading a children's story. I felt sucked into the book like I did when I read Jack Cavanaugh's post WWII series about communist Germany. Robert Elmer has a gift for writing children's novels with such depth that they stick with you. I remember reading Night by Eli Weisel as a child and I still remember every detail of that book even without the same redeeming message that Beetle Bunker contains. All of the values you want children to learn are in this wonderful story and I applaud Robert Elmer for bringing some dark portions of world history to light. May our children never forget...

In this second book to Elmer's The Wall Series, the saga continues from the point of view of Erich's thirteen-year-old half sister and is set in 1961. Sabine is claustrophobic as a result of being locked in a closet by a stern nurse and suffers from the affects of polio. She adores her older brother, now a doctor, who knew her American father, Fred Dewitt. All Sabine knows about her mother's second husband is that he died before her birth, and she yearns to know more. Sabine, joined by a newfound friend Willi, stumbles upon an old World War II bunker that contains an intact car, a beetle. When a wall of cement and barbed wire springs up overnight permanently dividing East and West Berlin, the Becker family is trapped. But both Erich and Sabine yearn for freedom. Sabine tells her brother about the bunker, so close to the wall that one could dig a tunnel to freedom. In spite of her disability and fear, Sabine heroically helps her brother and his friends dig the tunnel, an escape that will end in sacrifice. Those who enjoyed Elmer's first book in the series will be equally pleased with the drama and suspense that he so artistically entwines with accurate history.