This was an interesting story about two boys growing up in Europe during World War 2. It is a short book that will interest both adults and young readers. I found the decision to go with a naive 9 year old boy as the main voice of the piece resulted in some interesting misunderstandings about what was actually happening in the story. The plot doesn't seem to be going anywhere until the last 30 pages or so, but it has a good ending that will leave you to think about what happened.The paperback has some weird translations issues. Thankfully the difference is between British and American English, so it shouldn't be confusing to too many people (though I can imagine some young readers would be confused to read about tyres and pyjamas, especially when it is usually spelled pajamas for most of the book).Overall I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5, but since we can't do half stars, I'm rounding up to 4.