Allies

Chapters 1-15

Reading Check

1. His real name is Dietrich Zimmermann and he is German (Chapter 1)

2. The disappearance of Uncle Otto (Chapter 2)

3. “Day-Day” or “the starting day” (Chapter 3)

4. He was killed in a protest against the Nazis in 1940. (Chapter 4)

5. The French Resistance fighters, and their code names of based on Greek mythological characters (Chapter 7)

6. The stray dog that befriends Samira (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. Dee is blond and looks young for his age of 16, while Sid is tall and strong for his age. The boys are united by their uniform, and their hatred for the New York Yankees baseball team. (Chapter 1)

2. Dee changed his birth certificate so he could enlist. The recruitment officer suggests he Americanize his name so in case he is caught by the Germans, they won’t know his country of birth. (Chapter 2)

3. They are a mother daughter from Algeria living in northern France. Kenza is a spy for the French Resistance. Kenza is arrested by Nazis soldiers as she is helping French farmers, and Samira resolves to find her mother. (Chapters 4-6)

4. She comes across the Maquis after accidentally running into two Nazi soldiers. She tells the Maquis what happened to her mother and asks them to help her mother escape. They refuse, but she decides to stay with them because they are her best chance. (Chapters 8-11)

5. Brigadier Rene de Compiegne is a World War I (WWI) veteran who supported the French cause and frequently slowed down German trains. He welcomes both Samira and the Maquis, and shows them where they can blow up the lines and cut the telephone lines. (Chapter 13)

6. After successfully derailing the German train, de Compiegne realizes that the Nazis may identify him as a conspirator by supporting the Maquis. Samira helps to “destroy” his hut so it looks like he was held captive while the Maquis derailed the train. (Chapter 15)

Chapters 16-28

Reading Check

1. To dispel racist comments made towards him (i.e. the use of “chief”) and be respected (Chapter 16/Chapter 23)

2. He realizes that he, along with others who were bullied, should unite against Marvin Lennox and the rest of the bullies. (Chapter 18)

3. “Big poles with sharpened tops” with the intent to impale Allied paratroopers (Chapter 21)

4. James and Sam were dropped 7 miles from their intended location. (Chapter 22)

5. The Canadian army was no longer segregated. (Chapter 23)

6. They surrender. (Chapter 25)

Short Answer

1. In the Canadian government’s efforts to encourage citizens to buy war bonds, the city of Winnipeg hosted a day where it pretended to be invaded by the Nazis. This simulation was meant to help people understand what their future may look like if the Nazis were not defeated. It included fake arrests, book burning events, destruction of infrastructure and the renaming streets to German names. (Chapter 17)

2. After landing safely, James and Sam approach a nearby farmhouse where they meet Henri and his grandmother Madam de Compiegne (the grandson and wife of Brigadier Rene de Compiegne). (Chapter 22)

3. They find the German headquarters, along with 96 empty beds. They realize they need to try to escape before they are noticed, but the Nazi soldiers see them and kill the other four Canadians besides James and Sam. (Chapter 24)

4. They find a French family, who has been living in the basement like slaves while the German soldiers lived upstairs. Seeing the gratitude of the family gives James a renewed sense of purpose in the war. (Chapter 26)

Chapters 29-39

Reading Check

1. Achilles (Chapter 29)

2. the Bayeux Tapestry (Chapter 30)

3. to dig the tank out of the hole (Chapter 32)

4. Dee (Chapter 33)

5. asking them about their favorite movies (Chapter 35)

Short Answer

1. He shares that William Conqueror left the same shores to conquer England in the 1066 Battle of Hastings. He is named after this king, and his siblings are named after royalty as well. (Chapter 29)

2. Bill wants to see Amiens because his father fought and died in WWI in France, so he never had the chance to meet him. He wants to find the stone where his father carved his name so he can carve his own name under it. (Chapter 30 and 33)

3. Bill, Thomas, Dee and the rest of the American soldiers are able to dig out the tank and the gunman continues firing at the German soldiers. Bill and Thomas bid farewell to Dee, talking about how they will try to make it to Amiens. In that moment, Dee observes the Germans destroying the Achilles tank, which kills all the British soldiers, including Bill and Thomas. (Chapters 33-34)

4. Henry’s battalion is the “first and only black combat unit in the whole Normandy beach invasion” (Chapter 36). Their mission was to install barrage balloons to protect Allied soldiers. Unfortunately, the mission did not go as planned, and the soldiers in this battalion had to join the fight. (Chapter 36)

5. As an African American, Henry experienced racism in his training in his segregated unit. Despite this, he still helps Lieutenant Hoyte, the commanding officer who made his life difficult in training, since he believes his role as a medic takes priority over avenging his discrimination. (Chapters 36-37)

Chapters 40-50

Reading Check

1. Sid (Chapter 42)

2. They leave the seawall through a hole and attack a group of German soldiers. (Chapters 43-44)

3. “A resistance net” (Chapter 45)

4. Meaning “armor” in German, it is the name Americans call German tanks (Chapter 47).

5. He overhears them speaking about their plans in German while hiding under their tank. (Chapter 48)

6. He is German. (Chapter 49)

Short Answer

1. He is an American soldier that Dee and the other soldiers observe from the seawall. He is lucky enough because he manages to navigate most of the beach without getting hit. As he is close to approaching the seawall, he is shot, and Dee runs out to get his body. (Chapters 40-41)

2. D. Kaufmann is a German soldier that Dee kills. Dee realizes that while they are both German-born, Dee is more American than he is German, since neither he nor his family supported Hitler or served in the German army. He realizes at this moment that he wants to become a U.S. citizen. (Chapter 44)

3. Dee, Sid and the other soliders catch the Germans by surprise, killing everyone and taking over the bunker. Sid is frustrated because he still has not killed a German soldier, and Dee is proud because he feels he has avenged Bill in some way. (Chapter 45)

4. Dee offers to blow up the German tank. He does this because it feels like the right decision, and will “restor[e] balance to the universe.” (Chapter 47)

5. They are setting fire to the church because the French villagers are held hostage there. Dee and Sid break in and free the women and the children. (Chapters 49-50)

Chapters 51- Author’s Note

Reading Check

1. “I will wait” in French (Chapter 51)

1. Because she went to retrieve her bathing suit the exact moment D-Day started (Chapter 51)

3. Bayeux to see a military hospital (Chapter 54)

4. An injured Dee Carpenter (Chapter 55)

5. Because it was “the beginning of the end” of WWII (Author’s Note)

Short Answer

1. Monique’s nickname is “Dr. Monique” because she is not “squeamish” around blood. She hears a soldier calling for a medic and decides to risk leaving the hut to see if she can help him. (Chapter 52)

2. Dorothy is a female reporter who disguised herself as a male doctor to get on to the beach. After meeting Monique, the two of them help injured soldiers they find on the encounter. (Chapters 53-54)

3. She thanks Dee because as one of the Allies, he has helped to free those under German occupation. (Chapter 56)