The Boy Behind the Door is his­tor­i­cal fic­tion inspired by a true sto­ry. It recounts events that tran­spired in the Nazi occu­pied Nether­lands from May 1940 to the end of World War II. It involves the read­er in the life of an orphaned 15-year-old Jew­ish teenag­er named Solomon, who is deal­ing with the nor­mal emo­tion­al angst of matur­ing in an abnor­mal world. Solomon’s fam­i­ly had been cap­tured dur­ing a Nazi roundup. He escaped and is alone. Hol­land had a large pop­u­la­tion of Nazi par­ty mem­bers and col­lab­o­ra­tors mak­ing Solomon’s need to avoid cap­ture, as well as find food and safe shel­ter, espe­cial­ly dan­ger­ous. He does not know whom he can trust or who might rec­og­nize and betray him for a reward. Yet, in order to sur­vive he must trust some­one. Even when Solomon does find a safe haven, it is only tem­po­rary, in order to pro­tect the har­bor­ing fam­i­ly. Solomon had to mature in the absence of a role mod­el or men­tor. He had to learn to con­trol his tur­bu­lent emo­tions and come to terms with his ever-chang­ing and haz­ardous sit­u­a­tion. His deci­sions were a mat­ter of life or death. The nar­ra­tive por­trays Solomon with sen­si­tiv­i­ty and real­ism, and details his strug­gle to sur­vive. It is often dif­fi­cult to find young adult Holo­caust lit­er­a­ture that will inter­est teenage boys, but this book is up to the task. Fur­ther, it is appeal­ing to a good read­er and acces­si­ble to a below-grade read­er. For ages 11 and up.