*Enemies in the Orchard by Dana VanderLugt

In Enemies in the Orchard, an American girl and a German POW discover a shared humanity among the tragedy of war.

*Enemies in the Orchard by Dana VanderLugt. Zonderkidz, 2023, 270 pages

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 11-15

An Unsettled Time, a World at War

At 12 years old, Claire DeBoer is already longing to escape her small-town Michigan roots. It’s an unsettled time for America, too: three years into a World War with most of its young men away from home fighting on two fronts, including Claire’s only brother Danny. She has no more peers at her one-room school, because most of the kids her age have dropped out to help on family farms and orchards. But Claire wants to be a nurse, and for that she needs an education. Her parents support her, in their stolid Dutch-Calvinist way, but necessity may bind her to the farm for the duration—until relief comes from an unexpected quarter. The War Department as agreed to a work-release plan for German prisoners, in return for their renouncing their allegiance to Hitler. But they are the enemy—killing American boys like Danny. The DeBoer’s rural routine is upset by too-frequent funerals. How can Germans be trusted at all?

Among the POW’s is Karl Hartmann, a soft-spoken young man not yet out of his teens. All his life he’s been trained (i.e., brainwashed) to believe Nazi propaganda about the master race, but at heart he probably never bought in. At any rate, his chief emotion upon surrendering is relief, and his chief revelation while traveling across America is that he was lied to. This is no beaten-down country, but a prosperous, well-fed land fully capable of defeating his fatherland. He, along with several of his prisoners, welcomes the farm work. They’ve arrived at picking time, when the apples are sweet. The orchard-owner is stern but fair and he has a pretty daughter.

Recovering Humanity

Told in verse from two perspectives, the plotline is somewhat predictable. We suspect Claire and Karl will form some sort of bond which will be tested by tragedy, and both will grow in understanding. But their path toward convergence is realistic, insightful, and touching as each is forced to revise opinions. Faith is not expounded, but ever present. The undercurrent of possible romance would make more sense if Claire were older, and the themes might be more suitable to teens than tweens. More thoughtful than gripping, but an affecting read overall, reminding us that a human heart still beats under the worst ideology. That helps to know, when praying for our enemies.

Overall Rating: 4.75

• Worldview/moral value: 5
• Artistic/literary value: 4.5

Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader

• Reviews: My Friend the Enemy tells a similar story of WWII on the home front. Also see The Swallow’s Flight (starred review), for the British home front, much closer to the action.
• Review: Peace Is a Chain Reaction is the true story of enemies reconciling long after the war.
• Resource: There’s no end to WWII stories! Check out our Heroes booklist.

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