Korinna Rehme, a loyal, patriotic German girl, trusts that her parents and the Nazi government have her best interests at heart. But then, as social control tightens and violence against Jews escalates, Korinna's faith is shaken: Her parents who outwardly support the Fuhrer are hiding Jews in their house! Outraged, she debates turning them into the authorities, all the while knowing that, if she does this, they will be killed as traitors. Choosing to keep her family's secret, she slowly opens herself to the mother and young child who hide behind her bedroom wall-and this makes all the difference. As she inwardly questions the Nazi regime and struggles with her own deep-seated prejudices, she changes and takes action on behalf of the people she now sees as human beings.

“For the sake of my own—and everyone’s—grandchildren, I hope there will never be an end to the flow of stories that speak of history and to the human heart.” —Lois Lowry, Newbery Award–winning author

Winner of the Milkweed Prize for Children’s Literature

It is 1942. Korinna, a thirteen-year-old girl in Germany, is an active member of the local Jungmädel, a Nazi youth group, along with many of her friends. She believes that Hitler is helping Germany by dealing with what he calls the “Jewish problem,” a campaign that she witnesses as her Jewish neighbors are attacked and taken from their homes.

When Korinna discovers that her parents—who are secretly members of an underground resistance group—are sheltering a family of Jewish refugees behind her bedroom wall, she is shocked. As she comes to know the family her sympathies begin to turn, and when someone tips off the Gestapo, Korinna’s loyalties are put to the test. She must decide what she really believes and whom she really trusts.

An exciting novel for middle-grade readers, Behind the Bedroom Wall teaches tolerance and understanding while exploring why Nazism held so many in its deadly thrall.

“The atmosphere and mood of the times are palpable . . . a fast-moving, believable plot with an inevitable ending.” —School Library Journal

“The history is accurate, and the plot is dramatic . . . readers will be caught by the courage of the Righteous Gentile family and by the changes in Korinna as she gets to know these Jews as people.” —Booklist

“Pays stirring tribute to the courage and ingenuity some outwardly ordinary people showed in those dark days.” —Kirkus Reviews