The White Ravens Database

Presented by   Internationale Jugendbibliothek / International Youth Library

English / USA

The faithful spy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the plot to kill Hitler

Hendrix, John (text/illus.)
New York: Amulet Books, 2018. – 175 p.
ISBN 978-1-4197-2838-9

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich  | Germany  | History 1910-1945  | National socialism  | Resistance  | Biography  | Graphic novel

Reading age: 12+

White Ravens issue: 2019

OPAC

After delivering “Miracle Man. The Story of Jesus” in 2016, a much-praised biography about the Son of God, award-winning illustrator John Hendrix has taken on an even more challenging cast of characters for his new book. “The Faithful Spy” is an astounding biography-cum-history book in graphic novel format, designed in just three colours: red, teal (i.e. a dark shade of green), and black. With middle graders and teenage readers as a target audience, Hendrix describes both the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young German interested in God and religion who later joins the resistance movement, and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist Party in Germany in the 1930s. Spanning almost half a century, the handwritten text cogently condenses the complex issues and presents them in an interesting combination of fact and fiction. Impressive images, powerful metaphors, insightful quotes, and the juxtaposition of good and evil make this book a compelling read for all ages.