Cyrus Fisher (1904–1964)

When twelve-year-old Johnny Littlehorn's father returns from the front lines, after WWII is over, and announces they're spending the summer in France, Johnny doesn't want to leave their Wyoming ranch. But what starts off as a boring trip soon turns into a frightening adventure. A sinister man trails Johnny throughout Paris and follows him to his uncle's village of St. Chamant.

With the help of his new friends, Suzanne and Charles, Johnny follows a winding trail that leads to a fugitive spy, a German pistolet hidden in a loaf of bread, and a stolen fortune. Before long, he's learning French, helping his oncle Paul build an avion, and unraveling an evil Nazi plot!… (meer)

A young boy from Wyoming breaks his leg and falls into a kind of depression because of it. To help him break out of his feelings of helplessness, his parents decide to take him to France (this is just after WWII and his father is still stationed there). He stays for the summer with his uncle in the south of France, helps him build a glider airplane, and gets mixed up with a Nazi in hiding looking for buried treasure.
This is a pretty fun one, really. There's suspense and mystery in the story about the Nazi, but the best bit is that John learns some French, bit by bit, throughout the book, and so can young readers right along with him, so that by the end they can read the letter John writes to his mother, in simple and understandable French. Pretty cool.… (meer)

This was one of many books I snitched from my older sister's room, and read on the sly. I have not owned a copy or read it in years, but have very fond memories of this story, which takes place in France just after WW2. Johnny Littlehorn winds up spending the Summer in a tiny and poor village in the mountains of South France. The only thing of interest, he feels, is watching his French 'oncle' build an avion, airplane.

But then things get more interesting...

January 25, 2013: I indulged myself in a reread, and found it to be as charming and fun to read as I'd remembered.… (meer)