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Summary:
It’s 1941. Fifteen year-old Lina lives in Lithuania. Stalin’s Soviet Army has recently invaded her country and several other Baltic states – claiming them as part of Russia virtually overnight. In an effort to keep civil unrest to a minimum, Stalin deported to Siberia anyone critical of Russia. In the night, Lina, her mother and her brother are forced from their homes with only 20 minutes to pack – 20 minutes to decide what to keep out of several lifetimes’ worth of memories and possessions.
Lina’s father is deported separately
to a prison camp. How can Lina stay strong for her family? How can she document
and let the world know what is happening to her people and family if everything
she writes is examined and censored by the Soviet Police?
Lina uses her budding talent as
an artist to document in detailed drawings the indignities and horrors suffered
by her countrymen – actions the Soviets will do anything to keep quiet so as
not to offend their WWII allies. Lina uses her drawings to spread hope among the
people as she passes her drawn messages along, hoping her father will receive
them and know his family is still alive. Will her drawings reach him? Is he
even still alive? Can her family survive its forced deportation? Will the world
ever know what happened when the Soviets invaded the Baltic states?
Review:
This novel is very powerful and moving. There were several occasions during reading this book when I wept. In her debut novel, Ruta Sepetys has created a memorial for all those who lived in the Baltic states who were forced to their deaths in Siberian work camps. Prior to reading her novel, I had never heard about Stalin’s occupation of the Baltic countries. Many history books have no mention of it. As Sepetys states in her afterword, those who survived the ordeal to return to their homes were forced to live like criminals in restricted areas – their homes, possessions and jobs gone forever; if they dared speak of what had been done to them, they were either sent back to Siberia or killed, so they stayed silent (339-341). History has forgotten what was done here. Sepetys does an excellent job of painting pictures with her words to help those of us who have no understanding of such events to see Stalin’s actions and the resulting tragedies in vivid Technicolor in our minds.
The book is riveting. It is definitely
one I will keep in my classroom library and will try to incorporate into my
lesson plans. However, I do have a few small criticisms. The end of the book is
rather abrupt, almost as though there was a rush to “wrap it up” and get to the
epilogue. Also, while many of the passages are moving and extraordinary, there are
a few where Lina’s voice seems to be preaching at the reader, rather than
drawing the reader in to make his or her own conclusions. There are a few other
small problems, but I suspect they are a matter of one’s individual taste,
instead of a weakness in the book itself.
That being said, in a world
where much of the people who even bother to read anything more challenging than
a magazine are devouring poorly written fluff about vampires, werewolves and
the girls who obsess over them (and the even more poorly written popular adult
spin-offs inspired by such stories), this novel should be considered downright
extraordinary. It made me not only want to know more about the fictional
characters inside its pages, but also more about the forgotten (perhaps hidden)
history that inspired it.
Awards:
William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist - 2012
YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for
Young Adults - 2012
YALSA Readers' Choice Nomination
- 2012
Realistic Fiction; ALA Notable
Children's Book - 2012
Booklist Top 10 First Novels for
Youth - 2011
Booklist Editors' Choice - 2011
Top 10 Books for Youth,
Historical Fiction - 2011
Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Books of
2011
Publishers Weekly Best
Children's Books (Fiction) of 2011
School Library Journal Best
Books (Fiction) of 2011
Amazon.com Best Books (Young
Adult) of 2011
The New York Times Notable
Children's Books (Young Adult) of 2011
Teaching Extensions:
Assign different groups of students
to read Between Shades of Gray and Sarah’s Key, both novels that deal with
almost forgotten aspects of WWII. Have the students do research on these two
time periods to see what historical facts they can find to support the history
presented in the books. Have the different groups create digital displays
(using Prezi or some other Web 2.0 tool) to present to the class, then upload
to a class website. As a further extension, use a website “hit” tracking tool
to monitor the nationalities of the people who examine the page. Research to
see if the countries that produce the most “hits” were countries where the
events depicted in the presentations occurred. Relate this to how history may
be “misplaced” for a time, but it is never completely forgotten. Hold a class
discussion regarding what they want to be remembered for 70 years later.
(Related content areas – English/Language Arts/Reading, Social Studies,
History, Civics)
de Rosnay, Tatiana. Sarah's key. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2007. Print. 320 pp. ISBN-10: 0312370849
Sepetys, Ruta. Between shades of gray. New York:
Philomel Books, 2011. Print. 344 pp. ISBN-10: 0399254129.
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