Publishers Weekly
07/10/2023
An aura of tender sorrow pervades Vanderlugt’s 1944-set debut, a free-verse novel about two youths who meet due to a WWII labor camp program in the U.S. The paths of 13-year-old American Claire DeBoer and young German soldier Karl Hartmann cross when Karl is one of 250 German prisoners of war brought to a Michigan labor camp under terms with the Federal Emergency Farm Labor Agency. Assigned to the apple harvest on Claire’s family’s orchard, kindhearted, English-speaking Karl is stunned to learn of German government lies and to find that “now,/ as a captive,/ ... I’m more at peace/ than I ever was/ fighting at home.” Claire, whose 18-year-old brother is fighting abroad, is desperate to attend high school and become a nurse rather than give in to expectations to leave school and help on the farm until marrying. In spite of Claire’s initial distrust, which is amplified within the community, Claire and Karl slowly befriend each other as their perspectives of each other’s situations change. Via contemplative first-person narratives and occasional adapted news articles, Vanderlugt intimately limns each character’s experiences alongside those of a sympathetically drawn secondary cast. While eliding context around U.S. internment-camp practices in WWII, this bittersweet telling, per an author’s note based on little-known true events, is nevertheless rich in atmospheric and emotional detail. All characters cue as white. Ages 9–up. Agent: Amy Thrall Flynn, Rubin Pfeffer Content. (Sept.)
Chris Baron
A compelling and beautiful journey of history, truth, and courage, with connective and heart-stirring imagery, Enemies in the Orchard is a novel in verse that readers of all ages will hold in their hearts.
historian and author of Michigan POW Camps in WWII Gregory Sumner
Dana Vander Lugt brings to life the human side of the Second World War as it played out in the lives of two young people in the orchard country of West Michigan. Imaginative, closely observed, timely, and hopeful.
The Banner Magazine
Based on a true story, this World War II middle school novel written in free verse is narrated from the alternating perspectives of 13-year-old Claire De Boer of Apeldoorn, Mich., and Karl Hartmann of Ulm, Germany, a boy her age. As Claire and Karl's paths cross, their initial suspicion and awkwardness around each other is replaced with the fragile, yet hopeful possibility of grace, understanding, and friendship. When tragedy strikes and all seems lost, even then Claire finds hope: 'And I have no doubt / that where I'm from, / what I've lived through, / is planted deep inside me— / that all my life, / I'll be drawn back here, / to the trees, / to the apples. / But I am also confident / that I am finding my own place on the branch, / a space to grow / where the sun will reach me.' Though recommended for readers ages 9-12, this novel—deeply moving and filled with poignant insights into the destructive nature of war and its impact on children—is better suited to children ages 12 and older.
author of Good Different Meg Eden Kuyatt
A stellar example of utilizing point of view to great effect and the power of listening to new perspectives. A great classroom conversation starter on discerning what is true and seeing humans in a world often full of misinformation.
Jack Ridl
Seldom do we discover a book both timely and timeless. Dana Vander Lugt's incomparable Enemies in the Orchard is not only such a work, but also evidence of the improbable—the formulation of friendship between those commonly perceived not only as incompatible but as given enemies. I think of Huck and Jim: timely/timeless. Thanks to Vander Lugt's courageous heart and luminous writing, we will never forget the understanding forged across the ubiquity of hate by thirteen-year-old Claire—who has lost her rambunctious early teens to working the family orchards—and Karl, a young prisoner of war hired to help, who reveals the inconceivable: a German soldier who holds a humane heart. We follow unexpected kindnesses, misunderstandings, and heartaches, while we daily walk and work with them. Timely? One has to be living in isolation not to recognize such. Timeless? How can kindness ever outwear its need? Based on a true story, Vander Lugt's ability to combine exhausting research with an abundantly empathic imagination is astonishing. In the words of Claire: 'Germans .../ will soon invade Daddy's trees,' and of Karl: 'I want to .../ show this woman and child/ my empty hands.' Be prepared to 'Never forget.'
author of Caminar and To Stay Alive Skila Brown
Dana Vander Lugt's Enemies in the Orchard is a poignant peek at a buried piece of World War II history. This debut novel, rich in emotion, is centered around the universal story of friendship. I could not put it down. Readers, don't get too comfortable with the palpable setting and beautiful poetry, because this story is full of unexpected and gut-wrenching twists that will remind you there are no winners when it comes to war.
coauthor of Same Sun Here Silas House
Perfectly conjuring the time and place, Enemies in the Orchard is a stunning debut populated by characters who will stay with you forever. Claire, in particular, is the kind of endearing, complex character who will have you rooting for her until the last page. Written in mesmerizing and propulsive verse, this timely story will make readers think deeply about empathy, community, and the ways we are more similar than we are different, no matter where we are from. I loved every word.'
Newbery Honor–winning author Marion Dane Bauer
Beautifully crafted verse that moves the reader swiftly through a strong story, and a topic from our history that has much to say to us today. An exciting launch of a new author.
Newbery Honor-winning author Gary Schmidt
Enemies in the Orchard is unflinching in its portrayal of loss and grief during wartime. Its narrative is surprising, its characters complex, and its focus on forgiveness and love, and the meaning of the good and full life, is honest and heady. Plan to read this in one sitting—that's how gripping this story is.
author of I Am Defiance Jenni L. Walsh
Enemies in the Orchard is a fast-paced, lyrical novel perfect for upper middle-grade readers that offers a new perspective into what it means to be an enemy and how we see and can also forgive others.
Lesléa Newman
Enemies in the Orchard is simply unputdownable. Rarely have I read a book that uses alternating points of view to such great effect. Claire and Karl are fully complex and compelling characters. The apple orchards are described in such detail, they become a character in and of themselves. As I read, I could see, smell, and taste apple butter, apple cider, apple pie. The story, based on the author's own family history, is meticulously researched, and the poetry is simply gorgeous. Full of vivid imagery, profound symbolism, and stunning metaphor, this magnificent historic novel in verse about a little-known aspect of World War II has the word 'award-winner' written all over it. It deserves as wide an audience as possible.
author of Road to Tater Hill and That Smudge of Sm Edith Hemingway
The power of a novel in verse lies in its economy of words, a lyrical telling of a story distilled to its very essence, and Dana Vander Lugt has done this masterfully in her Enemies in the Orchard. Told in two voices on opposing sides of the page—that of Claire, an impressionable, young teen girl working in her family's orchard on the home front, and that of Karl, a young German POW soldier forced to fight in a war he's not sure about—the novel covers a lesser-known aspect of WWII. Enemies in the Orchard, with its budding friendship amid the harsh realities and truths of war, is a story not only for middle-grade readers, but one for readers of all ages.
School Library Journal
09/08/2023
Gr 4–8—Claire, a 13-year-old daughter of apple farmers in Michigan, and Karl, a Nazi prisoner of war, find themselves in an unlikely friendship—with hints of more—when their lives intersect at Claire's family orchard. This novel-in-verse is based on a true story of a group of German POWs who were transported to the Midwest to help with labor shortages due to the large quantity of Americans fighting in the war. Through dual perspectives, VanderLugt aims to humanize the characters and show that Karl, who was a member of the Hitler Youth, recognizes the horrors of war and the way he was indoctrinated; he is portrayed as a sympathetic character. Pacing and character development flow well in this story and hold readers' interest. WWII fiction crowds historical fiction collections, though not many focus on the experiences of German soldiers on American soil. This book sheds some light on this part of history. VERDICT Recommended for purchase for upper elementary and middle school collections only where WWII fiction is in very high demand.—Monisha Blair
Kirkus Reviews
2023-07-26
In a Michigan apple orchard in 1944, a German soldier and an American girl reflect on wartime life.
Claire DeBoer, a careworn 13-year-old Dutch American girl, bears countless responsibilities on her family’s farm and dreams of one day becoming a nurse. Karl Hartmann, a teenage German prisoner of war, arrives in Michigan to do agricultural work through a federal program. The book opens with atmospheric poems introducing each protagonist, effectively using George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From” format. This reflective verse novel alternates their perspectives as it explores their intersecting lives. Claire’s brother is fighting in Europe, so the dissonance of enemy soldiers on her farm feels like a cruel joke. Karl is awakening to the immensity of Nazi atrocities and anti-American propaganda, though some of his more nationalistic fellow prisoners are determined to make him suffer. Calm and dread intertwine: The soothing harvest-time rhythms intermingle with the ever-present threat of tremendous loss. Karl and Claire, having lost their youths to a global conflict, discover a tenuous friendship; the hinted-at mutual romantic feelings between an eighth grader and someone described as “almost a man” might cause some discomfort. VanderLugt’s reflections on war’s personal toll and the tensions of having enemy troops working in America offer opportunities for readers to consider matters from many angles. An author’s note describes her inspiration—the German POWs who worked in her own grandfather’s fruit orchards during the war.
An emotionally layered vision of a difficult moment in history. (sources) (Verse historical fiction. 10-14)
