Winged Watchman (Living History Library)

The story of a family in the Netherlands during the last year of WW ll occupation, told through the eyes of a ten year old boy. There's a lot of ordinary Dutch family life in the 1940s as well as particular elements of the time- hunger, neighbors in the underground as well as Nazi collaborators, a downed Allied pilot, a hidden Jewish child. Since the narrator is ten, it's told at about that level of understanding and puzzling over events, but would be interesting even to young teens. A good family read aloud.

My 9 year old is reading this and enjoying it very much!

This book was a suggested read aloud for my son’s homeschool curriculum. I never would have picked it up otherwise. What a delight! We were instantly drawn in and charmed and by the end of the book, I could barely get the words out through my tears. This is a truly beautiful story, one that will remind you that hope and goodness remain even in the darkest of days.

This is a history book, but unlike most, it can actually hold my attention. It does get fairly intense, though, so I wouldn't recommend it to children under 10 years old. Another good book like this is a book called The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, about life in Africa. Good clean action. Teaches valuable life lessons, such as loyalty, justice, and sacrificial love.

I highly recommend this historical fiction book!I love it!It's very heartwarming and true and I love learning about history!Amazing! Yup!

As a book required for school, we used this as a family read-aloud. I had never heard of it before and didn't know what to expect. We LOVED it. My 11-year old daughter says, "It's very suspenseful and it's awesome!" My 9-year old son says, "It's set in World War 2 and it's an amazing book! You'll want to read it in one sitting. It's long but it's good."There was so much to like about the struggles and triumphs of this family during the war, and many heroic characteristics to admire. We learned about Holland, the windmills, the dikes, the culture, and the desperate cost that war can inflict. But finally the book is full of hope and love and family and faith. We didn't want it to end.

I owned a copy of this book when I was growing up. That copy is no longer with me, but the memories of this story have followed me through my adult life. There is much to learn about the bravery of the Dutch Resistance, the hardships of war, life in Holland as a windmill family, and the bare survival of wartime deprivations. However, there is also much to learn about the values of loyalty, true belief in right vs wrong, and the inner fortitude of humans who actively took a stand against the evil that surrounded them. It's a gem of a book.

My ten-year-old son and I loved this book, which I just finished reading aloud to him. It is an exciting story of a Dutch Catholic family living in occupied Holland, focused on the young sons of the family who must risk danger to help their family and friends, including Jewish neighbors, survive and resist the German occupation of the Netherlands. The book gives a detailed people of the hardships experienced during World War II, and of the tough moral dilemmas faced by religious people who have to struggle not to hate their enemies, including fellow countrymen who collaborate with the German invaders. A great read for children and adults alike.

A terrific book for 7-11 year old children (or older). Set in wartime Holland under the German Occupation. Full of realistic characters, a gripping storyline and lightly suggesting deeper issues, such as self-sacrifice, family values, religious faith etc. I rate it a modern 'classic'.

It's good if your into stuff like this . And it's family friendly, it's easy to read and just a great book.

I was a little concerned that this book might be too juvenile a read aloud for my kids (ages 12 and 15), but we all found it delightful! It is somewhat difficult to find a book that deals with war in a way that doesn't make it a depressing slog for the kids (Mine are quite emotional, and always balk at reading anything sad, which in their opinions naturally includes everything set in times of war. Incidentally, they are wary of animal stories for the same reason!) Obviously war is tragic by definition, but this treasure of a book dealt with some of the inevitable sadness of war in a gentle and uplifting manner, which left us all feeling quite positive and hopeful. It was a small triumph to find a book that would teach us some history of Holland and WWII while still giving everyone some enjoyment in the listening! Bravo Hilda Van Stockum!

A great family read aloud. Excellent historical fiction