Projekt 1065

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade historical fiction
• Originally Published: 2016
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 780L; grades 6-9
• Structure/Length: 101 chapters; approx. 320 pages; approx. 7 hours on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: In the throes of World War II, 13-year-old Michael O’Shaunessey, the son of the Irish ambassador to Nazi Germany, joins his parents’ second vocation early and becomes a spy. Michael embeds himself in the Hitler Youth, where he delves deeper than he ever wanted to glean essential information that he hopes will aid the Allied forces.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Nazism; Hitler Youth; anti-Semitic violence

Alan Gratz, Author

• Bio: Born 1972; holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee, based in his native city of Knoxville; married with one child; currently lives in the mountains of North Carolina; member of the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame; Malka Penn Award for Human Rights Honor (2017) for his novel Refugee
• Other Works: Prisoner B-3087 (2013); Refugee (2017); Ground Zero (2021); Two Degrees (2022)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Sacrifice of the Individual for the Greater Good
• The Role of Children in War
• The Power of Fear, and the Greater Power of Overcoming It

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will: