It Began With a Parachute

by William R. Rang

Bert, a twelve-year-old Christian boy living in Holland during the Nazi occupation, rescues an American navigator and becomes involved with the Resistance.

93 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1992

Reviews

[Melanie Tillman]

This is a quick, easy read that my eleven year old son really enjoyed. (He loves learning about WWII.) As an adult, I felt the ending was a little rushed and overly simple, hence the three stars. I also didn't get the whole "moral dilemma" about lying. First of all, what were they supposed to do? Say, "yeah, we're hiding two allied pilots" so they could all go to concentration camps? Not to mention, they lie later on but those lies aren't addressed as moral issues. It was inconsistent. It did lead to an interesting moral discussion with my eleven year old, however.

[Rebecca]

Children will enjoy this story set in Nazi-occupied Holland. Bert learns lessons about obedience, friendship and truth after he rescues an American pilot who had been shot down. Every time he directly or indirectly disobeys his parents, he learned that he'd made the wrong decision. This is one children's story where the parents are not pitted against the children. Instead the Christian parents are on the children's side. There is plenty of adventure and character-building incidents in the short story. It would make a great book to read aloud to the family.