The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler

Description

Adolf Hitler's Nazi party is gaining strength and becoming more menacing every day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor upset by the complacency of the German church toward the suffering around it, forms a breakaway church to speak out against the established political and religious authorities. When the Nazis outlaw the church, he escapes as a fugitive. Struggling to reconcile his faith and the teachings of the Bible with the Nazi Party's evil agenda, Bonhoeffer decides that Hitler must be stopped by any means possible! In his signature style of interwoven handwritten text and art, John Hendrix tells the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to help free the German people from oppression during World War II.

John Hendrix is the illustrator of Nurse, Soldier, Spy and author/illustrator of Shootingat theStars, among others. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

"This is quite a time to be looking back at Nazis. A year after President Donald Trump defended Charlottesville protesters carrying swastikas, a staffer in the Department of Homeland Security resigned last month after his ties to white nationalist organizations were exposed. Whether or not this is the '30s all over again, Adolf Hitler seems to be on people's tongues, making this a great time for John Hendrix's deep look at a real-life German theologian who refused to let his conception of Christianity become an accessory to genocide against minorities. Hendrix's beautiful blue-and-red layouts position the evolution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's religious convictions against the historical tapestry of the Nazis' rise. It would be a vivid read at any time, but feels especially relevant now." -- Entertainment Weekly "The author and illustrator of picture-book biographies of Jesus Christ, John Brown and other nonconformists, John Hendrix demonstrates his storytelling powers once again with this graphic-novel treatment of a turbulent time. Impressive in its scope and imagery, "The Faithful Spy" manages to convey not only the rise and fall of Hitler; it also peers into the soul of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the many Germans who defied Hitler's tyrannical rule." -- Washington Post "What will catch the reader's eye immediately is Hendrix's striking three-color art. The book is not a panel-by-panel graphic novel, but rather an inventive combination of text blocks and illustration. Each spread has its own ingenious design." -- New York Times "Author-illustrator John Hendrix brings his considerable talents to this nonfiction graphic exploration of the German resistance during World War II... The Faithful Spy is exactly the kind of accessible, innovative page turner sure to entice new readers to the graphic format and the burgeoning genre of middle grade nonfiction. Truly a tour de force." -- BookPage "Mr. Hendrix's portrait of Bonhoeffer's courage and example, his unshakable piety amid horror, makes 'The Faithful Spy' one of the year's most compelling works of nonfiction for readers ages 10 to 16." -- The Wall Street Journal "With art rendered in stark reds and blues, John Hendrix's story is as much a feast to the eyes as it is a stirring, but ultimately tragic, tale." -- NPR