Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz
Hi my name is Kire. I am a 8th grader who loves to read and write book reviews!
Max in the House of Spies is a historical fiction novel that is set during World War II and follows a young 11-year-old boy named Max. Before the Nazis take over, Max lives in Berlin, Germany with his Jewish family but as it becomes more dangerous for Jewish people, Max’s parents decide to send Max to live with a family in Britain until it becomes safe for him and his family to be together again.
When Max arrives with his new family, he soon finds out that one of his “Uncles” is actually a spy for Britain. Max is immediately intrigued as he wants to become a spy to go back to Berlin and see his family and make sure they’re okay. Although the spy agency is hesitant at first, after a lot of questioning they agree to let Max go through spy training. He trains and trains and eventually when he passes a test, he is debriefed for his first mission, to go to Berlin to spy on the Nazis. Max is overjoyed but will he actually find his family? Read Max in the House of Spies to find out.
I read this book for the Idaho Battle of the Books and I found it to be pretty good. The only thing that I really didn’t like about this book was that it ends in a huge cliffhanger, and I didn’t find the book good enough to read the next one in series. Overall, I think anyone who enjoys books about World War II will probably enjoy reading this book especially because some of the elements in this book are actually true.
