Common Sense Media Review
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Gripping, must-read novel follows young soldiers on D-Day.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
ALLIES begins before dawn on June 6, 1944, as two American soldiers, 16-year-old Dee Carpenter (a German immigrant) and his best friend, 17-year-old Sid Jacobstein, are boarding one of the boats that will take them and thousands of other Allied soldiers to the beaches of Normandy. The invasion of German-occupied France is about to begin. In a plane flying above the English Channel, two Canadian paratroopers, 19-year-old James McKay and Samuel Tremblay, a Cree Indian from Quebec, await orders to jump into a sky already filled with enemy gunfire. At midday, with the battle still raging, a British tank driver, 19-year-old Private Bill Richards, and his crew head ashore from their transport boat only find they've been taken Omaha Beach instead of the beach where British troops had been ordered to land. On Omaha, a 20-year-old African American medic named Henry Allen, a member of the only African American unit on the beach, is treating the wounded, one of them the white officer who'd tormented him throughout boot camp. It's not just soldiers who have important work to do that day. An 11-year-old French Algerian girl named Samira Zidante must take a message to Resistance fighters after her mother is captured by the Germans. And 13-year-old Monique Marchand unexpectedly finds herself aiding the wounded men on the beach. As the day and the story unfold, some characters will briefly meet and team up to work together. Some will witness new friends' sudden and unexpected deaths. As D-Day comes to an end, there are joyful reunions and the knowledge that for those surviving, the fighting will go on.
Is It Any Good?
Fast-paced and intense, this is a war story that doesn't spare readers the harsh reality of what it's like to be caught up in a terrifying nonstop battle. But Allies isn't just about the battles fought on that June day, it's about friendship, loyalty, heroism, and fighting against prejudice. Its young characters (almost all in their teens) might well be like someone a reader knows. It's about average young people (as one says, he "never did anything in his life to stand out") caught up in an extraordinary moment in history.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence in Allies. How are the battles described in this novel different from the battles you see fought on TV or in movies or video games?
Were you surprised at the racism and prejudice faced by several of the characters? How would you have responded if someone you were fighting alongside had called you a "spade," "Yid," or "chief"?
What did the story teach you about teamwork? Have you ever been in a class or on a team with kids who came from a lot of different backgrounds? How well did you work together?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : History
- Topics : Book Characters , Friendship , History
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Scholastic Press
- Publication date : October 15, 2019
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 11 - 14
- Number of pages : 336
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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