Heart pounding from the first line to the last paragraph, The Boy And The Spy by Felice Arena is an action packed emotionally driven adventure story, set in Southern Italy during World War 2.

The story starts with Antonio, running as fast as he can through the small fishing village where he lives, trying to escape a German soldier.

At risk of being shot, Antonio jumps off a cliff and into the wild ocean. A mysterious man, who is hiding in a sea cave, rescues him. Antonio learns the man is American, and even worse an enemy spy, but the man has saved Antonio from sure death, and is now asking the boy for his help.

And so begins the gripping story of cat and mouse that see a young boy who, against the odds, heroically helps a man in need.

Appropriate for students in Grade 4 and up, the book ties in perfectly with current ANZAC Day commemorations. It gives students and candid view into the everyday lives of the people trying to live their lives through the hardships of war. Told from the “enemies” point of view it shows that everyone suffered during the war, no matter what side you were on.

There are great learning activities that tie into the story including:

· Learning about Morse Code –

o how does mores code work?

o get children to write messages to each other using Morse code.

o Extend this by getting Children to make up their own codes, swap them with friends and try and crack the codes to reveal each other’s secret messages.

· Learning about maps and features of places.

· Students can have a go at drawing a detailed map of a familiar area including features.

· Children could review a world map and find places referred to in the book such as Sicily, Milan, Palermo, Boston, New York

Learning what was life like in the past? – Read a passage of the book, such as the description of Antonio’s house on page 17. From the text ask students to draw a picture of what they think the house looks like. Would there be modern day conveniences such as a dishwasher, washing machine, a TV?

There are lots of unfamiliar terms in the story. As a class group create a glossary of terms to accompany the book. List all the words that are unfamiliar, research them and write descriptions for each one. For example Rota, piazza, boulevards, Allies, cannoli, air-raid, crystal transmitter, cryptologic systems, double transposition cypher, Paraset, The Résistance

There are endless discussion topics that could predict or question the decisions made by the characters in the story.

Felice Arena has written an exciting, heart wrenching historic thriller perfect for engaging children in upper primary in a wealth of learning opportunities.

Not only is this book an emotionally charged nail biting adventure but it also raises a number of fantastic learning opportunities that teachers can leapfrog into straight from the text.

Discussions

Should Antonio risk his own safety by helping the spy?

Why are the German soldiers so angry with Antonio for simply drawing funny pictures of their leaders?

Why is the priest giving money to the well-known gangster called Viper?

There are also countless opportunities to stop in the book as ask, “What should Antonio do”? What would you do?