Dutton Children's Books

for The Boys from St. Petri by Bjarne Reuter, 1994, translated from the Danish by Anthea Bell

The book cover of "The Boys from St. Petri" by Bjarne Reuter features two young men fleeing the scene of a conflagration on their bicycles. Three others are on foot, whether chasing them or fleeing themselves is not clear. Text at the lower left corner: "The stakes have been raised--and there's no going back."

About

It is 1942, and Denmark has been occupied by Germany.  A group of teenage boys dare to do what their elders have not--show resistance to the Nazi invaders.  According to Batchelder Committee Chair Linda Perkins, this is "more than just a war story well told, it is about the complexities of human personalities, about conflicts between classes and within families, and about the pervasiveness of bigotry.  Bell's translation is fluid and seamless.  The author's details leave no doubt of the authenticity of the setting."

Awards Won

Title Year
batchelder-gold-watermark2-154x154.png Mildred L. Batchelder Award
This award, established in Mildred L. Batchelder's honor in 1966, is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
 1995 - Winner(s)

Press Releases

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/batchelderaward/b…