The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

 

I am so very torn about this book.  At the beginning Pierrot was a loveable boy.  But circumstances left him an orphan.  While he was able to live with his Jewish neighbors and his best friend for awhile it soon became too dangerous and he was sent to an orphanage. Then, an aunt he never met decided to take him from France to Germany to live with her at the home of her employer - Adolf Hitler.  As a reader I hoped that Pierrot would be able to see through Hitler's talk and influence but he wasn't.  He turned in his aunt and a chauffer and became overbearing, conceited, and abusive.  Yes, he regretted it when the war was over but it was a painful look at how alife was influenced negatively.  

My school is only through grade 5 and I wouldn't put the book in my library.  But, I could see the value of having this book alongside other books from the time period as a discussion.