Summer of My German Soldier

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Great book for boys middle to high school, younger students may struggle to read but content is exciting.
Highly recommended (high and middle school)
12 year old Patty Bergen is the Jewish daughter of two store-owner parents who think she is too skinny, with messy hair and doesn’t say much worth listening to. Mom has been referred to as the most beautiful woman to come to Jenkinsville, while the father has a temper that seems to only be taken out on Patty. Little Sister Sharon is their favorite with her beautiful hair and pleasant personality. Housekeeper Ruth loves Patty and tries to guide her even though her father, Mr. Bergen frequently hits her for things he thinks are foolish (hitting passing car’s hubcaps with rocks-it flew up and broke the windshield).
On a summer day a train brings German Nazis to a prison camp just outside of town. A few days later, as Patty is in the store-she usually isn’t allowed to help-several of the Germans come in to purchase hats to protect them from the Arkansas sun as they pick cotton. She helps Anton Reiker select stationery, a pencil sharpener, and a fancy pen and notices how well he speaks English. Anton calls her PB.
A few weeks later, she discovers Anton by the train tracks in his shirt that says POW on the back. She hides him above the garage and brings him food and clothing. He is there maybe a week when Ruth figures out Patty’s secret and gives her food to take the Nazi. Anton makes his escape for the train a short while later but leaves Patty the ring his great grandfather gave him-from the University in Gottenburg. While showing the ring to Sister, an employee at the store, sister tells the girl’s father and an investigation on her involvement in helping the German escape begins. When investigators later show Patty the clothes Anton was wearing, it is clear she gave them to him. The shirt was embroidered with HB, her father’s initials. The father didn’t seem to like the shirt when she gave it to him but now there were two bullet holes in it and what looked like bloodstains. Anton had been shot and killed.
Patty is taken away to be interviewed by the FBI but leaves the ring with Ruth. Patty eventually ends up at a Girls’ Reform School and stays until she is 18 (nearly 6 years). Ruth is her only visitor, bringing her fried chicken and hush puppies. While Patty sadly remembers her German friend and the ring, Ruth produces the 24 kt gold token of friendship and gives it back to Patty.