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Table of Contents
About The Book
“What a thrilling—and chilling—adventure!” —Margaret Peterson Haddix, New York Times bestselling author
From #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author Ann Brashares and her brother Ben Brashares comes the first book in a “pulse-pounding” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) middle grade alternate history thriller trilogy that asks what it would be like in present-day America if Germany had won World War II.
Henry, Frances, and Lukas are neighbors, and they used to be best friends. But in middle school Frances got emo, Lukas went to private school, and Henry just felt left behind. When they come together again for the funeral of a pet gerbil, the three ex-friends make a mindblowing discovery: a radio, buried in Henry’s backyard, that allows them to talk to another group of kids in the same town...in the same backyard...eighty years in the past. The kids in 1944 want to know about the future: Are there laser guns? Flying cars? Jetpacks, at least? Most of all, they want to know about the outcome of the world war their dad and brothers are fighting in. Though Henry is cautious—he’s seen movies about what happens when you disrupt the fabric of time—soon the present-day kids are sending their new friends on a mission to rescue a doomed candy store. What harm could that do? But one change leads to another, and when the six friends alter history in the biggest way possible, it’s up to them to change it back.
From #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author Ann Brashares and her brother Ben Brashares comes the first book in a “pulse-pounding” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) middle grade alternate history thriller trilogy that asks what it would be like in present-day America if Germany had won World War II.
Henry, Frances, and Lukas are neighbors, and they used to be best friends. But in middle school Frances got emo, Lukas went to private school, and Henry just felt left behind. When they come together again for the funeral of a pet gerbil, the three ex-friends make a mindblowing discovery: a radio, buried in Henry’s backyard, that allows them to talk to another group of kids in the same town...in the same backyard...eighty years in the past. The kids in 1944 want to know about the future: Are there laser guns? Flying cars? Jetpacks, at least? Most of all, they want to know about the outcome of the world war their dad and brothers are fighting in. Though Henry is cautious—he’s seen movies about what happens when you disrupt the fabric of time—soon the present-day kids are sending their new friends on a mission to rescue a doomed candy store. What harm could that do? But one change leads to another, and when the six friends alter history in the biggest way possible, it’s up to them to change it back.
Reading Group Guide
Reading Group Guide
Westfallen
By Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares
About the Book
The year is 1944. Three twelve-year-old friends tinker with an old radio.
The year is 2023. Three twelve-year-old kids tinker with an old radio.
When all six kids realize that they are playing with the same radio and can communicate across seventy-nine years, the power and responsibility of their discovery is not immediately apparent. The 2023 kids share amazing stories about sports and technology, and seemingly harmless information about key events of World War II―facts they know from textbooks and a school history project. But unbeknownst to all six kids, information, when in the hands of the wrong people, has the power to change history. When the future kids wake to an unrecognizable present, they know they must work with their new friends from the past to correct history or forever live with the consequences of their actions.
Discussion Questions
1. Why is it so important for Henry to have his old friends Frances and Lukas at Zeus’s funeral? Lukas observes that time seems to have stopped in Henry’s bedroom: “‘Bro, your whole room is a time capsule . . . OBJ still on the Giants? Your bunk beds? Minecraft? And pretty sure you had that gumball machine last time I was here. Like four years ago.’” (Chapter nine). Why do you think Lukas is surprised that Henry’s room hasn’t changed in four years? Why do you think Henry hasn’t changed the look of his room? What might his unchanged room represent?
2. In chapter eight, Henry, Frances, and Lukas first begin to piece together the realization that they are speaking to Alice, Lawrence, and Artie across a time span of seventy-nine years. In chapter nine, Frances says, “‘Not real . . . never happened. Couldn’t have.’” Even though she was in the shed and heard the 1944 kids speaking, she is in denial. Why? She goes on to say, “‘I DON’T KNOW HOW TO COMPUTE THIS! DO YOU?’” Imagine you were in the shed when you discovered time travel. How do you think you would “compute” it?
3. The six tweens make a series of decisions that alter the course of history, for better and for worse. Discuss some of the decisions and the consequences of those actions. What unintended consequences happened from the kids’ desire to do the right things?
4. Compare the 1944 kids to the 2023 kids in terms of how they live their daily lives. What surprised you the most about the 1944 kids’ lives? What aspects of the 2023 kids’ lives could you most closely relate to?
5. How do the authors use language, setting, and context to create worlds separated by seventy-nine years? What aspects of life as a twelve-year-old in 1944 surprised you? Imagine a world without cell phones, internet, Google, and video games. What do you think you would do with the time you currently spend accessing technology? How would your days, weekends, and even classes be different without this tech?
6. In the preface of Westfallen, Henry asks the reader to identify the “worst thing you’ve ever done” and to “really think about it.” Have you ever said or done something that you thought was harmless or helpful, but turned out to have negative consequences? If you feel comfortable, share what happened, and how what you did affected others.
7. Artie reveals to his 1944 friends that Lukas shared with him that “‘in 1947 there’s a Black player who joins the Brooklyn Dodgers. Can you believe it?’” (Chapter thirteen) Amazed by this information, he shakes his head and adds, “‘My dad is not going to be happy about that.’” Discuss examples of how the characters experience and discuss racism, both in 1944 and 2023.
8. The six friends grapple with the responsibility of being able to change the course of history. In chapter nine, Alice, Lawrence, and Artie are brainstorming things to ask the “future kids,” and Lawrence suggests asking them about the war. Quickly, he adds, “‘Do we want to know that?’” Why is Lawrence asking this question? Later in the novel, Henry reveals that he wanted to “get back to being powerless with no responsibilities.” (Chapter seventeen) In what ways, big and small, is knowledge power?
9. Lukas privately tells Artie about D-Day and how that event turned the tide of WWII in favor of the Allied forces, and ultimately led to the fall of Nazi Germany. Discuss how this seemingly innocent conversation led to the alternate reality of Westfallen. Reread Alice and Henry’s second interaction in chapter eighteen, from pages 161–166. What is the butterfly effect? Discuss and offer examples of the butterfly effect that you have seen in other media like TV shows and films, and in your day-to-day life.
10. Do you think you would have decided to destroy or keep the radio? Explain. If you could choose a device like a radio, walkie-talkie, phone, or mailbox that could connect you to another person in another era, who and when would you want to connect with, and why? They could be family, friends, or strangers famous or infamous. What would you want to know about that person, time period, or community?
11. Westfallen can be described as an “alternate history thriller” novel, in that the authors imagine what the world would be like if an historic event ended differently. Compare how alternate history novels like this one are different from historical fiction novels and books involving time travel. How are they similar? Are there elements of these three types of novels that overlap? Consider creating a three ring Venn Diagram to visually compare the aspects that make up these different kinds of stories.
12. How would you define fate? What do you think the difference is between fate and certainty? What are their similarities?
13. Henry thinks, “When time stops working right, what can you be sure of? You think you can count on certain things, like buildings taking years to plan and build, not sprouting out of nothing, and people you knew sticking around, not vanishing one day and reappearing two days later.” (Chapter seventeen) What things in your life are you certain of? What things in your life are you uncertain of? Do you think your future will be determined, in some aspect, by fate, or that you have complete control over where life will take you? Explain.
14. What does it mean to take something or someone “for granted”? Henry reflects sadly on his other life, to a time when the United States of America still existed, thinking he “never wanted to be anywhere more.” (Chapter twenty-two) Imagine that tomorrow you woke up in an alternate reality in which your freedoms were taken away and you lived in fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. What aspects of your life would you miss most? What are the things in your life that you currently have that you might take for granted?
15. In Westfallen, personal freedoms are severely restricted, especially for Jews and people of color. Discuss scenes and events in the story that illustrate how freedom is limited in Westfallen.
a. What does Lukas mean when he says, “‘Turns out I’m Jewish’”? (Chapter twenty-three)
b. What does Henry mean when he realizes, “Whatever happened to us here made [Lukas] weaker and me stronger”? (Chapter twenty-five)
c. Discuss Henry’s idea that “Maybe the Nazis didn’t need locks anymore because people here forgot what freedom even felt like.” (Chapter thirty-one)
d. What does freedom feel like to you after reading Westfallen?
e. What freedoms would you miss most if they disappeared tomorrow?
16. The importance of friendship is a dominant theme in Westfallen. How do the kids from 1944 and the kids from 2023 form a friendship? What do they have in common, despite being from different time periods?
17. Discuss the role of memory in the story. Henry realizes that he has a “weird kind of half memory” of his duties at the Millerton Home for Incurables, and goes on to wonder, “Where do memories live? In the muscles, the brain, the gut, I don’t know.” (Chapter twenty-six) Discuss where you think memories live.
a. If you had the opportunity to erase bad memories, would you? Why or why not?
b. In chapter twenty-nine, Henry explains that being in the shed “brought the memories back. And the memories hurt. We needed to hold on to them, but it was easier to get through the day without them.” Why do people need to hold on to both happy and painful memories?
18. Toward the end of the story, Alice thinks, “…where did the right version of history go when the wrong one took over? And then I started wondering was there really a right and wrong version? What did that even mean?” (Chapter thirty-six) Discuss what Alice means by a “right” version and a “wrong” version of history.
19. The story ends on a cliff-hanger―the 2023 kids wake and at first think that they’ve righted history, until they hear the blare of the siren, followed by the approach of a white van:
The side door slid open with a loud clang. A figure hurried out of the van. We stared up, helpless, as the figure approached. It passed out of the shadow and into the light cast by the streetlamp above and became clear. It was Ada Kim.
“C’mon,” she said. “Get in. We gotta go.”
Discuss what could be happening in this final scene of Westfallen. Imagine and discuss how the next book in the series will begin.
Extension Activities
1. It’s All Relative. The German physicist Albert Einstein thought a great deal about time. He once said, “People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” (https://www.npr.org/2013/05/17/184775924/resetting-the-theory-of-time) Spend time learning about the life of one of the greatest minds in history. Research Einstein’s ideas about time dilation and aspects of his theory of relativity.
2. Loose Lips Sink Ships. June 6, 2024, marked the eightieth anniversary of the D-Day landings, the pivotal Allied invasion of Normandy, France, that turned the tide of WWII. Throughout Westfallen, both sets of friends discuss and refer to D-Day and other aspects of life during WWII, such as war bonds, scrap metal drives, and victory gardens. As you read Westfallen, construct a list of WWII topics. Do a deep dive into at least one topic. Create an artifact from your research, such as a poster or drawing, to include in a WWII classroom museum.
3. All in Good Time. In Part I of the story, Lukas mockingly refers to Henry’s bedroom as a time capsule. Work in a small group to identify and gather ten objects that best represent the world today. Create a virtual time capsule in PowerPoint, Canva, or Google Slides. Present your time capsule to the class, explaining why each object was included.
4. Telegraph, Meet Google. The kids in Westfallen access the technology of their time as they work together to correct history. Imagine you found yourself in contact with kids your age that are living eighty years in the future. What would you share with them about technology that you currently use? What yet uninvented forms of technology do you hope they would tell you about? Imagine and draw an example of technology that might exist when you are in your nineties.
5. Always Remember. Never Forget. Adolf Hitler’s plan to systematically exterminate European Jewry is known as the Holocaust. In the country known as Westfallen, Lukas experiences many of the same cruelties and humiliations that millions of European Jews experienced during WWII: tattoos as identification markers, ghettoization, and forced relocation to work camps that were really death camps. Lead students through the history of the Holocaust, connecting real events and the fictional events that appear in Westfallen. The following resources are excellent places for students to begin their research:
○ The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://www.ushmm.org
○ The Museum of Jewish Heritage: https://mjhnyc.org/
○ The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center: https://www.hmtcli.org/
This guide was created by Colleen Carroll, literacy educator, content creator, and children’s book author. Learn more about Colleen at www.colleencarroll.us.
This guide has been provided by Simon & Schuster for classroom, library, and reading group use. It may be reproduced in its entirety or excerpted for these purposes. For more Simon & Schuster guides and classroom materials, please visit simonandschuster.net or TheBookPantry.net.
Westfallen
By Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares
About the Book
The year is 1944. Three twelve-year-old friends tinker with an old radio.
The year is 2023. Three twelve-year-old kids tinker with an old radio.
When all six kids realize that they are playing with the same radio and can communicate across seventy-nine years, the power and responsibility of their discovery is not immediately apparent. The 2023 kids share amazing stories about sports and technology, and seemingly harmless information about key events of World War II―facts they know from textbooks and a school history project. But unbeknownst to all six kids, information, when in the hands of the wrong people, has the power to change history. When the future kids wake to an unrecognizable present, they know they must work with their new friends from the past to correct history or forever live with the consequences of their actions.
Discussion Questions
1. Why is it so important for Henry to have his old friends Frances and Lukas at Zeus’s funeral? Lukas observes that time seems to have stopped in Henry’s bedroom: “‘Bro, your whole room is a time capsule . . . OBJ still on the Giants? Your bunk beds? Minecraft? And pretty sure you had that gumball machine last time I was here. Like four years ago.’” (Chapter nine). Why do you think Lukas is surprised that Henry’s room hasn’t changed in four years? Why do you think Henry hasn’t changed the look of his room? What might his unchanged room represent?
2. In chapter eight, Henry, Frances, and Lukas first begin to piece together the realization that they are speaking to Alice, Lawrence, and Artie across a time span of seventy-nine years. In chapter nine, Frances says, “‘Not real . . . never happened. Couldn’t have.’” Even though she was in the shed and heard the 1944 kids speaking, she is in denial. Why? She goes on to say, “‘I DON’T KNOW HOW TO COMPUTE THIS! DO YOU?’” Imagine you were in the shed when you discovered time travel. How do you think you would “compute” it?
3. The six tweens make a series of decisions that alter the course of history, for better and for worse. Discuss some of the decisions and the consequences of those actions. What unintended consequences happened from the kids’ desire to do the right things?
4. Compare the 1944 kids to the 2023 kids in terms of how they live their daily lives. What surprised you the most about the 1944 kids’ lives? What aspects of the 2023 kids’ lives could you most closely relate to?
5. How do the authors use language, setting, and context to create worlds separated by seventy-nine years? What aspects of life as a twelve-year-old in 1944 surprised you? Imagine a world without cell phones, internet, Google, and video games. What do you think you would do with the time you currently spend accessing technology? How would your days, weekends, and even classes be different without this tech?
6. In the preface of Westfallen, Henry asks the reader to identify the “worst thing you’ve ever done” and to “really think about it.” Have you ever said or done something that you thought was harmless or helpful, but turned out to have negative consequences? If you feel comfortable, share what happened, and how what you did affected others.
7. Artie reveals to his 1944 friends that Lukas shared with him that “‘in 1947 there’s a Black player who joins the Brooklyn Dodgers. Can you believe it?’” (Chapter thirteen) Amazed by this information, he shakes his head and adds, “‘My dad is not going to be happy about that.’” Discuss examples of how the characters experience and discuss racism, both in 1944 and 2023.
8. The six friends grapple with the responsibility of being able to change the course of history. In chapter nine, Alice, Lawrence, and Artie are brainstorming things to ask the “future kids,” and Lawrence suggests asking them about the war. Quickly, he adds, “‘Do we want to know that?’” Why is Lawrence asking this question? Later in the novel, Henry reveals that he wanted to “get back to being powerless with no responsibilities.” (Chapter seventeen) In what ways, big and small, is knowledge power?
9. Lukas privately tells Artie about D-Day and how that event turned the tide of WWII in favor of the Allied forces, and ultimately led to the fall of Nazi Germany. Discuss how this seemingly innocent conversation led to the alternate reality of Westfallen. Reread Alice and Henry’s second interaction in chapter eighteen, from pages 161–166. What is the butterfly effect? Discuss and offer examples of the butterfly effect that you have seen in other media like TV shows and films, and in your day-to-day life.
10. Do you think you would have decided to destroy or keep the radio? Explain. If you could choose a device like a radio, walkie-talkie, phone, or mailbox that could connect you to another person in another era, who and when would you want to connect with, and why? They could be family, friends, or strangers famous or infamous. What would you want to know about that person, time period, or community?
11. Westfallen can be described as an “alternate history thriller” novel, in that the authors imagine what the world would be like if an historic event ended differently. Compare how alternate history novels like this one are different from historical fiction novels and books involving time travel. How are they similar? Are there elements of these three types of novels that overlap? Consider creating a three ring Venn Diagram to visually compare the aspects that make up these different kinds of stories.
12. How would you define fate? What do you think the difference is between fate and certainty? What are their similarities?
13. Henry thinks, “When time stops working right, what can you be sure of? You think you can count on certain things, like buildings taking years to plan and build, not sprouting out of nothing, and people you knew sticking around, not vanishing one day and reappearing two days later.” (Chapter seventeen) What things in your life are you certain of? What things in your life are you uncertain of? Do you think your future will be determined, in some aspect, by fate, or that you have complete control over where life will take you? Explain.
14. What does it mean to take something or someone “for granted”? Henry reflects sadly on his other life, to a time when the United States of America still existed, thinking he “never wanted to be anywhere more.” (Chapter twenty-two) Imagine that tomorrow you woke up in an alternate reality in which your freedoms were taken away and you lived in fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. What aspects of your life would you miss most? What are the things in your life that you currently have that you might take for granted?
15. In Westfallen, personal freedoms are severely restricted, especially for Jews and people of color. Discuss scenes and events in the story that illustrate how freedom is limited in Westfallen.
a. What does Lukas mean when he says, “‘Turns out I’m Jewish’”? (Chapter twenty-three)
b. What does Henry mean when he realizes, “Whatever happened to us here made [Lukas] weaker and me stronger”? (Chapter twenty-five)
c. Discuss Henry’s idea that “Maybe the Nazis didn’t need locks anymore because people here forgot what freedom even felt like.” (Chapter thirty-one)
d. What does freedom feel like to you after reading Westfallen?
e. What freedoms would you miss most if they disappeared tomorrow?
16. The importance of friendship is a dominant theme in Westfallen. How do the kids from 1944 and the kids from 2023 form a friendship? What do they have in common, despite being from different time periods?
17. Discuss the role of memory in the story. Henry realizes that he has a “weird kind of half memory” of his duties at the Millerton Home for Incurables, and goes on to wonder, “Where do memories live? In the muscles, the brain, the gut, I don’t know.” (Chapter twenty-six) Discuss where you think memories live.
a. If you had the opportunity to erase bad memories, would you? Why or why not?
b. In chapter twenty-nine, Henry explains that being in the shed “brought the memories back. And the memories hurt. We needed to hold on to them, but it was easier to get through the day without them.” Why do people need to hold on to both happy and painful memories?
18. Toward the end of the story, Alice thinks, “…where did the right version of history go when the wrong one took over? And then I started wondering was there really a right and wrong version? What did that even mean?” (Chapter thirty-six) Discuss what Alice means by a “right” version and a “wrong” version of history.
19. The story ends on a cliff-hanger―the 2023 kids wake and at first think that they’ve righted history, until they hear the blare of the siren, followed by the approach of a white van:
The side door slid open with a loud clang. A figure hurried out of the van. We stared up, helpless, as the figure approached. It passed out of the shadow and into the light cast by the streetlamp above and became clear. It was Ada Kim.
“C’mon,” she said. “Get in. We gotta go.”
Discuss what could be happening in this final scene of Westfallen. Imagine and discuss how the next book in the series will begin.
Extension Activities
1. It’s All Relative. The German physicist Albert Einstein thought a great deal about time. He once said, “People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” (https://www.npr.org/2013/05/17/184775924/resetting-the-theory-of-time) Spend time learning about the life of one of the greatest minds in history. Research Einstein’s ideas about time dilation and aspects of his theory of relativity.
2. Loose Lips Sink Ships. June 6, 2024, marked the eightieth anniversary of the D-Day landings, the pivotal Allied invasion of Normandy, France, that turned the tide of WWII. Throughout Westfallen, both sets of friends discuss and refer to D-Day and other aspects of life during WWII, such as war bonds, scrap metal drives, and victory gardens. As you read Westfallen, construct a list of WWII topics. Do a deep dive into at least one topic. Create an artifact from your research, such as a poster or drawing, to include in a WWII classroom museum.
3. All in Good Time. In Part I of the story, Lukas mockingly refers to Henry’s bedroom as a time capsule. Work in a small group to identify and gather ten objects that best represent the world today. Create a virtual time capsule in PowerPoint, Canva, or Google Slides. Present your time capsule to the class, explaining why each object was included.
4. Telegraph, Meet Google. The kids in Westfallen access the technology of their time as they work together to correct history. Imagine you found yourself in contact with kids your age that are living eighty years in the future. What would you share with them about technology that you currently use? What yet uninvented forms of technology do you hope they would tell you about? Imagine and draw an example of technology that might exist when you are in your nineties.
5. Always Remember. Never Forget. Adolf Hitler’s plan to systematically exterminate European Jewry is known as the Holocaust. In the country known as Westfallen, Lukas experiences many of the same cruelties and humiliations that millions of European Jews experienced during WWII: tattoos as identification markers, ghettoization, and forced relocation to work camps that were really death camps. Lead students through the history of the Holocaust, connecting real events and the fictional events that appear in Westfallen. The following resources are excellent places for students to begin their research:
○ The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://www.ushmm.org
○ The Museum of Jewish Heritage: https://mjhnyc.org/
○ The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center: https://www.hmtcli.org/
This guide was created by Colleen Carroll, literacy educator, content creator, and children’s book author. Learn more about Colleen at www.colleencarroll.us.
This guide has been provided by Simon & Schuster for classroom, library, and reading group use. It may be reproduced in its entirety or excerpted for these purposes. For more Simon & Schuster guides and classroom materials, please visit simonandschuster.net or TheBookPantry.net.
About The Authors
Brashares, Ann
Ann Brashares is a writer and mother of four living in New York City. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series as well as several other novels. Before becoming a writer, she was a student of philosophy, a receptionist, an editor, a ghostwriter, and, briefly, the copresident of a small media company. She grew up in Washington, DC, with her three brothers and a stunning number of weird pets. She helped her youngest brother, Ben, with his shoes (and the debilitating lumps in his socks) every morning before school until he learned to tie his own shoes…around eighth grade.
Ben Brashares
Ben Brashares lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and three children. He’s the author of Being Edie Is Hard Today and The Great Whipplethorp Bug Collection. He holds an MFA in creative writing and has worked at and written for several magazines, including Rolling Stone, Men’s Journal, and Entertainment Weekly. He spent much of his youth wading through heaps of clothes in his big sister’s room looking for the family’s escape-artist tarantula, Fredricka…to put on his sister’s head while she slept. As an adult, Ben gets no help whatsoever tying his shoes. But he still has weird pets. And he still gets lumps in his socks.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (September 17, 2024)
- Length: 384 pages
- ISBN13: 9781665950817
- Ages: 8 - 12
Raves and Reviews
"The Brashares vividly illustrate the perils of forgetting lessons of the past in this historical science-fiction thriller... The racially and ethnically diverse cast’s crackling chemistry brings humor and heart to the pulse-pounding plot, which utilizes a timeworn premise to devastating effect."
– Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW, 7/15/24
“What a thrilling—and chilling—adventure! Take six kids separated by seventy-nine years, throw in a time-travel device none of them quite understand, and what’s the worst that could happen? All you have to do is read the first page of Westfallen, and you’ll be determined to find out—down to every last twist and turn that Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares dream up!”
– New York Times bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix
Resources and Downloads
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- Book Cover Image (jpg): Westfallen Hardcover 9781665950817
