Awards

• Winner of Society of Illustrators' Annual Exhibition - Gold Medal 2018 (United States)
• Winner of Society of Illustrators’ Annual Exhibition - Gold Medal 2018 (United States)

Overview

The Faithful Spy is the dramatic true story of German pastor and Nazi resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer come to life in this award-winning graphic novel from John Hendrix. “Intertwines two stories: the insidious rise of Hitler with his creed of hatred and Bonhoeffer’s development as an ethical thinker who believed that radical action was necessary, but that killing was a sin.” —New York Times Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party is gaining strength and becoming more menacing every day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor upset by the complacency of the German church toward the suffering around it, forms a breakaway church to speak out against the established political and religious authorities. When the Nazis outlaw the church, he escapes as a fugitive. Struggling to reconcile his faith and the teachings of the Bible with the Nazi Party’s evil agenda, Bonhoeffer decides that Hitler must be stopped by any means possible! Young readers will be thrilled by the near-miss attempts to kill Hitler. The plots involve deception, gut-wrenching timing, and concealed explosives: a bomb in a gift package, a rigged docent conducting a tour of captured weaponry, and an explosive briefcase snuck into the heart of Hitler’s fortress. But Hendrix makes the bold and surprising decision to tell it as a tale of faith. It makes this book unique, one as much about morality as it is about the attempted murder of one of history’s most heinous leaders.

Full Product Details

9781419732652

Table of Contents

Reviews

This is quite a time to be looking back at Nazis. A year after President Donald Trump defended Charlottesville protesters carrying swastikas, a staffer in the Department of Homeland Security resigned last month after his ties to white nationalist organizations were exposed. Whether or not this is the `30s all over again, Adolf Hitler seems to be on people's tongues, making this a great time for John Hendrix's deep look at a real-life German theologian who refused to let his conception of Christianity become an accessory to genocide against minorities. Hendrix's beautiful blue-and-red layouts position the evolution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's religious convictions against the historical tapestry of the Nazis' rise. It would be a vivid read at any time, but feels especially relevant now. -- Entertainment Weekly The author and illustrator of picture-book biographies of Jesus Christ, John Brown and other nonconformists, John Hendrix demonstrates his storytelling powers once again with this graphic-novel treatment of a turbulent time. Impressive in its scope and imagery, The Faithful Spy manages to convey not only the rise and fall of Hitler; it also peers into the soul of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the many Germans who defied Hitler's tyrannical rule. -- Washington Post Author-illustrator John Hendrix brings his considerable talents to this nonfiction graphic exploration of the German resistance during World War II... The Faithful Spy is exactly the kind of accessible, innovative page turner sure to entice new readers to the graphic format and the burgeoning genre of middle grade nonfiction. Truly a tour de force. -- BookPage

This is quite a time to be looking back at Nazis. A year after President Donald Trump defended Charlottesville protesters carrying swastikas, a staffer in the Department of Homeland Security resigned last month after his ties to white nationalist organizations were exposed. Whether or not this is the `30s all over again, Adolf Hitler seems to be on people's tongues, making this a great time for John Hendrix's deep look at a real-life German theologian who refused to let his conception of Christianity become an accessory to genocide against minorities. Hendrix's beautiful blue-and-red layouts position the evolution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's religious convictions against the historical tapestry of the Nazis' rise. It would be a vivid read at any time, but feels especially relevant now. -- Entertainment Weekly The author and illustrator of picture-book biographies of Jesus Christ, John Brown and other nonconformists, John Hendrix demonstrates his storytelling powers once again with this graphic-novel treatment of a turbulent time. Impressive in its scope and imagery, The Faithful Spy manages to convey not only the rise and fall of Hitler; it also peers into the soul of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the many Germans who defied Hitler's tyrannical rule. -- Washington Post What will catch the reader's eye immediately is Hendrix's striking three-color art. The book is not a panel-by-panel graphic novel, but rather an inventive combination of text blocks and illustration. Each spread has its own ingenious design. -- New York Times Author-illustrator John Hendrix brings his considerable talents to this nonfiction graphic exploration of the German resistance during World War II... The Faithful Spy is exactly the kind of accessible, innovative page turner sure to entice new readers to the graphic format and the burgeoning genre of middle grade nonfiction. Truly a tour de force. -- BookPage Mr. Hendrix's portrait of Bonhoeffer's courage and example, his unshakable piety amid horror, makes `The Faithful Spy' one of the year's most compelling works of nonfiction for readers ages 10 to 16. -- The Wall Street Journal

This is quite a time to be looking back at Nazis. A year after President Donald Trump defended Charlottesville protesters carrying swastikas, a staffer in the Department of Homeland Security resigned last month after his ties to white nationalist organizations were exposed. Whether or not this is the '30s all over again, Adolf Hitler seems to be on people's tongues, making this a great time for John Hendrix's deep look at a real-life German theologian who refused to let his conception of Christianity become an accessory to genocide against minorities. Hendrix's beautiful blue-and-red layouts position the evolution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's religious convictions against the historical tapestry of the Nazis' rise. It would be a vivid read at any time, but feels especially relevant now. -- Entertainment Weekly The author and illustrator of picture-book biographies of Jesus Christ, John Brown and other nonconformists, John Hendrix demonstrates his storytelling powers once again with this graphic-novel treatment of a turbulent time. Impressive in its scope and imagery, The Faithful Spy manages to convey not only the rise and fall of Hitler; it also peers into the soul of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the many Germans who defied Hitler's tyrannical rule. -- Washington Post What will catch the reader's eye immediately is Hendrix's striking three-color art. The book is not a panel-by-panel graphic novel, but rather an inventive combination of text blocks and illustration. Each spread has its own ingenious design. -- New York Times Author-illustrator John Hendrix brings his considerable talents to this nonfiction graphic exploration of the German resistance during World War II... The Faithful Spy is exactly the kind of accessible, innovative page turner sure to entice new readers to the graphic format and the burgeoning genre of middle grade nonfiction. Truly a tour de force. -- BookPage Mr. Hendrix's portrait of Bonhoeffer's courage and example, his unshakable piety amid horror, makes 'The Faithful Spy' one of the year's most compelling works of nonfiction for readers ages 10 to 16. -- The Wall Street Journal With art rendered in stark reds and blues, John Hendrix's story is as much a feast to the eyes as it is a stirring, but ultimately tragic, tale. -- NPR

Author Information

John Hendrix is the illustrator of Nurse, Soldier, Spy and author/illustrator of Shooting at the Stars, among others. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

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