Adam Gidwitz is a much loved children’s author whose fabulous tales have taken readers young and old from Grimm’s fairy tales (“A Tale Dark and Grimm“) to the Inquisition (“The Inquisitor’s Tale“) and now to WWII in “Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II.” This historical fiction also contains Gidwitz’s trademark fantasy twist with two mythical creatures who accompany main character Max as he travels from Berlin to London as part of the Kindertransport, which took Jewish children from Germany to countries where they stayed in foster homes until the end of the war.

Gidwitz was inspired to write this story by a family friend who had actually been a child on the Kindertransport. In addition to what he was told by the family friend, Gidwitz did a huge amount of research, and readers benefit by reading this intriguing, enthralling, and yes, entrancing, story of an intrepid eleven-year-old boy who will do anything to return to Berlin to help his parents.

As Max is leaving Berlin, he realizes two very unusual characters are riding along on his shoulders. Both are invisible, immortal creatures; one a dybbuk named Stein and the other a kobold named Berg. They are cranky sidekicks, but they also become important later in the story. Max’s father was a watchmaker and watch repairman, and from him Max learned many things. But Max’s genius is in radios. He loves them and can make one from items the rest of use would consider garbage.

Gidwitz is disturbed by the distortion of information that has been rampant in our country since COVID, comparing it to the lies that Hitler used in Germany, and he said, “The elevation of lies in our national discourse made me want to explore how a nation comes to commit itself to lies. World War II was both meticulously documented and dominated by the most effective liars in the history of the world. Nazi Germany made lying an art, and I wanted to explore my curiosity in that most extreme of examples.” Indeed, he does just that.

But the story itself is gripping, and readers of all ages will find that they want to keep reading page after page to see what happens to Max. He’s a likable character and a genius, and we really come to admire his tenacity and his determination to return to a horrible situation in order to save his parents. The information about the Kindertransport, how the Germans spoke about Jews, how antisemitism was rampant in England as well as Germany, and the British feeling of superiority toward every other kind of person is both compelling and repellant.

I must admit I’m a bit upset at how the book ended with a HUGE cliffhanger. It made me want to immediately read the next book, which obviously I can’t. It hasn’t been published yet! But I really can’t wait to read it and find out how the next chapter in Max’s life will go. As one might expect from any Gidwitz read, the writing is top-notch, the plot thrilling, and the dialogue superb. I will say that this is a middle grade book that is best suited for middle grade readers who are at least in fourth or fifth grade. While my seven-year-old grandson reads at a very high level, there are concepts in this book that he won’t understand. Concepts regarding race and politics and subjugating other races are not simple ideas.

`There’s an irony in that the previous book I read was “The Murder of Mr. Ma” by SJ Rozan and John Shen Yen Nee. It’s an adult mystery and a fine historical fiction that features two Chinese detectives in London in the 1920s, solving a series of murders. In that novel, the authors discuss the horrible past wherein the British imported opium into China with the result of widespread addiction there. Gidwitz also mentions these events when a character in the story is telling Max about some of the horrors the British perpetrated on those in other countries. He says, “We Brits tell ourselves stories like, ‘We are bringing Christian brotherhood to the world’ while we enslave other human beings. We tell ourselves stories like ‘We are bringing the masses freedom!’—and that always and only means ‘freedom to make money’—while we get an entire continent addicted to opium. You know we Brits did that. In China. One of the worst crimes in history.” Not concepts a seven-year-old will readily grasp.

As always, Gidwitz entertains as he is teaching children about right and wrong. About good and evil. And about how being a human being means being a humane being. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

This review is based on the final, hardcover book provided by Dutton Books for Young Readers, the publisher, for review purposes.