This tense and thought-provoking World War II story, from the acclaimed author of Missing in Action and Search and Destroy, examines what it truly means to be a hero.

Spencer Morgan and Dieter Hedrick are on opposite sides of the war, but they’re fighting for the same things: honor and respect.

At the age of fifteen, Dieter’s blind devotion gets him promoted from Hitler Youth into the German army. Dieter is determined to prove his allegiance and bravery all costs.

Spence, just sixteen, drops out of his Utah high school to begin training as a paratrooper. He’s seen how boys who weren’t much in high school can come home heroes, and Spence wants to prove to his friends and family that he really can be something.

Both Spence and Dieter fear the war will end too soon—that they won’t get the chance to prove themselves. But when they finally see the action they were hoping for, it’s like nothing they ever could have imagined.

• Age Range: 12 and up 
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (July 21, 2015)
• ISBN-13: 978-1481427043