Defiance

Jablonski, Carla. Defiance. Illustrated by Leland Purvis. First Second, 2011. Paperback $16.99, ISBN-13 978-1596432925.   

What’s it about?

In this sequel to 2010’s Resistance, 1943 France is a perilous time to be part of the French Resistance, thanks to the Milice, the French Military Police. This doesn’t stop Paul, Marie and Sylvie Tessier, three courageous young siblings, from continuing to risk their lives through acts of defiance and espionage.  

 Find out more:

Defiance is the second book in a planned trilogy about the acts of ordinary citizens supporting the French Resistance. This second installment continues the story of the Tessier siblings, particularly Paul, whose new acts of defiance, inflammatory caricatures of German soldiers and anti-German propaganda, place him in danger. When Paul is nearly caught red-handed by the Milice, (French Military Police), he flees to the forest where he knows there are members of the French Resistance. Meanwhile, Marie is suspended from school for refusing to sing a song praising the treasonous Chief of Vichy France, Marshal Petain, and Sylvie is acts as an intelligence agent, dating and duping a young German soldier into telling her key information that ultimately saves several members of the Resistance.

This book, like Resistance, is does a great job of expressing the wide range of emotions experienced by its main characters—joy, tension, terror and anger. The artwork isn’t stand-out, with the exception of the black and white sketched panels that depict Paul’s caricatures, but it is adequate, and the storytelling and pacing is outstanding. Jablonski does an excellent job at providing readers with historical context in her forward about the occupation and the French Military Police (Milice) and her author’s note about Charles de Gaulle.  Defiance is a great follow-up to Resistance, and will interest older kids and teens interested in history and historical fiction, particularly those that enjoy graphic novel formats. 

   

Reading level/ Interest level: Gr. 5-12

Genre:  Historical fiction, Historical graphic novel

Subjects: World War II, French Resistance, Occupied France, Nazi Germany

Series information:

Book 1: Resistance

Read-alikes:

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The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campell Bartoletti