In A Thun­der­ous Whis­per, Ani, a shy twelve-year-old Basque girl, and Math­ias, a bold four­teen-year-old Ger­man Jew, become friends and then spies in the weeks lead­ing up to the bomb­ing of the Span­ish city of Guer­ni­ca in 1937. The book por­trays child emo­tion­al abuse and bul­ly­ing but also pos­es the big­ger ques­tion of whether kids can have a role in bet­ter­ing our world. Ani lives with an abu­sive moth­er. Her father is away fight­ing in Spain’s Civ­il War. Matthias, the son of a mixed mar­riage is upset about the treat­ment of Jews in Ger­many. The book maps Ani and Matthias’ jour­ney through their friend­ship and this life shat­ter­ing expe­ri­ence. The focus on this sig­nif­i­cant and lit­tle-known event is unique. While it is known that many Jews sought refuge from Nazi per­se­cu­tion by sail­ing out of ports in Spain and Por­tu­gal to the Amer­i­c­as, the Math­ias char­ac­ter seems some­what pedan­tic as he lec­tures Ani on Jew­ish cus­toms and the per­se­cu­tion of Jews in Ger­many. Ani, on the oth­er hand, seems well researched. Read­ers will learn much about a lit­tle known cul­ture, lan­guage and event made famous by Picasso’s paint­ing of the same name. Also help­ful is an author’s note with fac­tu­al infor­ma­tion and a glos­sary. Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 10 and up.