Book Review: Westfallen by Ann and Ben Brashares

Publisher’s description

“What a thrilling—and chilling—adventure!” —Margaret Peterson Haddix, New York Times bestselling author

From #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author Ann Brashares and her brother Ben Brashares comes the first book in a “pulse-pounding” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) middle grade alternate history thriller trilogy that asks what it would be like in present-day America if Germany had won World War II.

Henry, Frances, and Lukas are neighbors, and they used to be best friends. But in middle school Frances got emo, Lukas went to private school, and Henry just felt left behind. When they come together again for the funeral of a pet gerbil, the three ex-friends make a mindblowing discovery: a radio, buried in Henry’s backyard, that allows them to talk to another group of kids in the same town…in the same backyard…eighty years in the past. The kids in 1944 want to know about the future: Are there laser guns? Flying cars? Jetpacks, at least? Most of all, they want to know about the outcome of the world war their dad and brothers are fighting in. Though Henry is cautious—he’s seen movies about what happens when you disrupt the fabric of time—soon the present-day kids are sending their new friends on a mission to rescue a doomed candy store. What harm could that do? But one change leads to another, and when the six friends alter history in the biggest way possible, it’s up to them to change it back.

Amanda’s thoughts

This book is a good read. This book is a disturbing read.

I read a lot of WWII historical fiction in a year, mainly because there is just so much of it. For probably a lot of really compelling reasons, it’s a time and a war that many authors tackle. Because, of course, these books are being written by smart and skilled middle grade authors, each finds their own angle into the story, which is necessary because none of us want to read the same kind of story about a time period over and over.

Enter the Brashares siblings. Westfallen is sci-fi. It’s a thriller. It’s alternate history. It’s time travel. Or worm holes. Or… whatever a magical shed and radio constitutes. It’s historical fiction. It’s a dystopia. That’s a lot, right? And it all works.

In one timeline, we have 3 modern children in 2023—mixed-race Henry, white Frances, and Jewish Lukas. And 79 years in our past, there are 3 other children–Alice and Artie, who are white, and Lawrence, who is Black. Both groups of kids are just living their lives without much remarkable going on (I mean, for the kids in 1944 there’s the war, but that’s also just their regular daily life), until a radio connects them across time. It’s kind of cool (if not super weird). They get to tell the kids from the past about Google and smart phones. They talk about what’s the same and what’s different. Henry and Alice live in the same house, in their respective timelines, and the kids start to figure out some of the tricks and boundaries of what their newly discovered time travel can allow. The modern kids wisely know they shouldn’t reveal too much of what they know about what happens in 1944. You have to be careful about something changing history, after all. And who knows what that could be? The butterfly effect could make just one thing different and then BOOM! A whole new timeline. So they’re careful.

Until they’re not.

What if they all meddle just a little bit? To make something better? Surely that has to be allowed. But… that dang butterfly effect. They decide that maybe history (or the present, or whatever) is just as it should be. It’s set. You can’t change anything, even for really good reasons, or it will be unexpected consequences. Lesson learned, right?

Well, no. Not exactly. Because while they now know to just let things unfold as they should (or do or did or whatever tense is right), just talking about some facts that are new information to the past kids wouldn’t be terrible, right?

Did you guess that’s not right? You’re right.

This is how we get Westfallen, a modern-day place that used to be known as the United States. The Nazis were never defeated in WWII. They now run the former US, this place now called Westfallen, this place Henry, Frances, and Lukas are suddenly living in. It’s still 2023, but literally everything else is different. What happened? And can they stop it? Or undo it?

Here’s the thing: I KNOW this is the first book in a series. So I knew things would not get all wrapped up neatly. But for a while, I forgot that. And other readers will too, I bet. Because if you do something like mess with the fabric of time and space and history, the consequences certainly can’t be undone and wrapped up in one book. These kids are in a MESS. I would love to listen to kids use this as a book club choice or listen as a class read aloud because the conversations to be had about altering history would be fascinating (and lead to lots of arguments!).

Here’s how much I liked this book: I could successfully read it on my breaks, at the edge of the library, and tune out the noise of all the kids all around me. I was so wrapped up in the story! A really good read that will keep readers turning pages and ready for book two!

Review copy (ARC) courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9781665950817
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date: 09/17/2024
Series: Westfallen #1
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

Filed under: Book Reviews