Eleanor's Story: An American Girl in Hitler's Germany

Eleanor, an American citizen, faces the troubles of the second World War at a young age that continue through adolescence. As a foreigner in Germany during the war, she must remain silent about her own political views and opinions. Her family struggles through each day trying to survive Hitler's world with one another's love and devotion as American citizens. Garner does an excellent job of setting the tones for both the German and the American citizens as they continue their lives full of poverty, anguish and fear under the ruling class of Germany during that time. As a child torn between loyalty to both Germany and America, Garner recreates the constant dilemma of her childhood. The novel shows the life of a German during Hitler's reign, a life full of anxiety, terror, and hunger. It also shows the confusion to its full extent with bombings from the British and other Allied countries, long lines for small rations of food, deaths of many loves ones, and constant anxiety about the Gestapo taking away loved ones. Garner takes her audience on an adventure full of truthful disturbances and historical reality.

A wonderful, historical, thought provoking, true story that everyone should read. All ages will love this book. I think all young people will get insight and knowledge of what life was in Germany during World War ll. Adults will be astounded to read a perspective of the unique circumstances that this family lived through.

Eleanor, the child, is courageously present in this story of growing up in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. What must it be like to be awakened from sleep, in fear, night after night for months on end! Even though the setting is WWII, the story can give us a glimpse of a child's life under the bombs today, in places like Bosnia, Chechnya and Kosovo. I would highly recommend this book to adult readers, as well as high schoolers.

Complete with B & W photos of a time gone by, Eleanor is a sensitive storyteller and captivated me from Chapter 1. She holds nothing back, describing feelings and painting pictures with words about life as an American Child forced to move back to Germany just as WWII breaks out. This autobiography keeps you glued to the pages to see how she will cope as the next drama plays out. Although this book is geared toward young adults, I recommend this memoir to all adults.

"Eleanor's Story: An American Girl in Hitler's Germany" provides a new view of Nazi Germany from a child's perspective, a much needed text in the Middle/High School Curriculum. It strips away the propaganda of the times to show how the German people were caught up in the war, many against their wills, how the young were instilled with Nationalistic fervor in carefully programed school and community activities. The disillusionment and destruction of an entire generation of Germans is played out in the pages of Eleanor Ramrath Garner's moving narrative. I recommend this book as required reading for all ages.Rosemarie Dion, Reading Specialist