Funny, fraught, magical tale of Jewish kid in spy school.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Max in the House of Spies: Operation Kinderspion, Book 1 is the first book in a two-part series by Newbery Honor author Adam Gidwitz, in which an 11-year-old Jewish kid is sent to England to escape the Holocaust by his parents, who then disappear -- and how, a year or so later, he's so determined to get back to them in Berlin that he agrees to spy for the British. Along for the ride, literally, are two tiny, invisible immortal beings, Stein and Berg, one on each of his shoulders, who wisecrack their way through it all and delight in causing trouble. Characters, including one from Trinidad, discuss the ethics of fighting for England when British colonialism killed and enslaved so many people, and a Jewish banker discusses the paradox of supporting and fighting for a country that will never really accept him. A soldier is killed; spymasters reject the idea of giving a suicide pill to a 12-year-old they're sending into deadly peril. Characters (many based on real people) are irresistible, hilariously brilliant pranks plentiful, moments of triumph and connection abundant -- and, as happens in spy fiction, there's lot of darkness, deception, and ethical murk just below the surface.
Violence & Scariness
some
The story is set against a backdrop of World War II, the Holocaust, the Kindertransport, and the Blitz. Max desperately longs for his parents, who disappeared shortly after they put him on the train to England. During the Blitz, the London neighborhood where Max lives is bombed. In spy school, he learns assorted deadly skills, practicing lethal blows (and crippling crotch kicks) on a swastika-adorned dummy. His spymasters discuss the fact that they're not giving a 12-year-old kid a suicide pill even though his mission is very dangerous and he may be captured and tortured. Max recalls the events of Kristallnacht, when Nazi goons beat and tortured the neighborhood rabbi -- then threw him through the window of Max's father's shop. Also his school days in Berlin where Hit the Yid was a popular "game" at recess, and he's beaten by a Nazi teacher for outsmarting him. In England there are also antisemitic bullies, and Max protects a younger kid by threatening to stab his tormentors. Characters discuss a doctor in Germany who's exterminating disabled people. A soldier is killed.
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Assorted antisemitic insults, especially "Yid," and insulting gestures. Frequent "damn" and "bloody." "He's screwed." "What the hell." "God almighty, she's a plague!" says a character about a singer he doesn't like.
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A kangaroo's fondness for Marmite comes in handy. Scene-setting mentions of products and daily life in WWII era London, e.g. the singer Vera Lynn and a Murphy Model A46 radio.
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
very little
Adult characters drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. Adults drink wine as part of Shabbat celebrations, but the kids get grape juice.
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Nearly all the main characters are Jewish; most have lived in England for generations, while Max is a refugee from Germany. Max's "mother" in spy school is Jean, a young woman who's a strong mentor and also a great athlete, who confides that she got involved in espionage because she didn't want to spend the war sitting in some office and missing all the action. There's a lot of antisemitism in England as well as in Germany. A wealthy British banker who's also Jewish muses to Max over the Shabbat candles about the precarious lines you walk being both British and Jewish, and how a lot of British people will never accept Jewish people as really British. A Parsi kid at school tells Max he's lucky because he blends in, visually at least, while his own dark skin sets him apart. A young soldier from Trinidad befriends Max and offers a window into British colonialism and slavery; another character talks about the Opium Wars in China as a great British crime.
"The first step to curing ignorance is to acknowledge it." Strong message of choosing your loved ones over everything else, and doing what it takes to protect them. Confronted with an overwhelming problem, break it down into individual parts and solve them one by one. Poker skills, especially bluffing, are part of spy training. Failure is an important part of life, and so is recovering from it. Outsmarting bullies by thinking four steps ahead of them.
Positive Role Models
a lot
Refugee Max is smart, courageous, a wizard with radios, fiercely loyal to his parents, and protective of them. Stein and Berg, two tiny immortal beings invisible to all but Max, love to cause trouble, but in spite of themselves grow to love Max and and want to help him. His parents, seen in flashback, are kind, loving people who often give Max their own food; his watchmaker dad teaches him important problem-solving skills. His English family, the Montagus, and the Rothschild family, are based on real-life figures, deeply involved in helping the British war effort despite often facing discrimination themselves. His spy school "mother," Jean, also based on a real person, is 19, cool, and better than Max at absolutely everything. Two brothers in a banking family are at odds because one is an ardent supporter of Communism and the other favors keeping wealth with the people who have it.
MAX IN THE HOUSE OF SPIES finds 11-year-old Max Bretzfeld sent to England from Berlin by his poor, loving parents to escape the Holocaust, very much against his will. And as if that weren't bad enough, he suddenly has two tiny immortal beings, Stein and Berg, permanently perched on his shoulders making trouble and offering unwanted advice. In London, he's taken in by the Montagus, a family of Jewish bankers, and they soon grow to love one another, but Max is determined to get back to his parents -- a crazy idea that gets less crazy when Max proves a genius with radios, and one of his "uncles," a spy for British Intelligence, takes note.
A thrilling tale, irresistible characters, and many hilarious moments sit atop a lot of dark history and ethical issues in Adam Gidwitz's WWII tale of a radio-whiz Kindertransport kid in spy school. Max in the House of Spies, thefirst of two parts, finds the 11-year-old title character sent to England to escape the Holocaust accompanied by two immortal beings, then taken in by Jewish bankers, and against all odds accepted to spy school. Hysterical pranks and clever moments mix with ethical quandaries, antisemitic bullies, and spymasters more than willing to get their agents killed, even if they're 12. A cliffhanger ending sets up Part 2.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about stories like Max in the House of Spies that deal with kids caught up in World War II, and their wartime experiences. How must Max be courageous in this story? Where does his courage come from? What other stories do you know about kids in this situation? How do they deal with the situation they're in?
A spymaster insists that spying isn't lying, it's creating a fiction and living in it. Still, it involves getting people, often innocent, to trust you, and then betraying that trust, often fatally. How do you feel about the way the issue's treated here, and in other spy literature?
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Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II: Operation Kinderspion, Book 1
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