Solid.
A German boy comes of age during World War II.
Peter is only 10 in 1939 when his mother registers him for Gymnasium, an elite school for German children with “pure” families, and the Jungvolk, the social organization for children too young for the Hitler Youth. There he is taught that Aryans are scientifically superior to other races and plays war games. Though there is never enough to eat, Peter and his neighbors are heartened by Chancellor Hitler’s radio promises of success through duty and loyalty. But as the war continues, Peter’s disillusionment grows as he proceeds through the ranks of the believers. When he and his friends return to Hamburg after Hitler’s defeat, they find their city devastated and learn that their revered leader was a sadistic killer responsible for “the murder of six million souls.” The novel takes its time, hewing closely to true events and only really taking off in the last third, when Peter and his friends survive several narrow escapes as they flee their doomed camp. However, Lewis’ detailed setting descriptions will provide readers with an accurate portrait of war-torn Germany, Hungary, and Denmark. Such details as the arithmetic that asks children to calculate how much various quantities of disabled people cost the state and the wholesaler who gives Peter what he calls “one of the last oranges in Germany” bring the reality home to them.
Solid. (glossary, author’s note, author interview) (Historical fiction. 10-15)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-88995-544-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Red Deer Press
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Powerful and resonant.
Four 12-year-old Sephardic Jewish girls in different time periods leave their homelands but carry their religion, culture, language, music, and heritage with them.
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella’s expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 sends Benvenida fleeing from Toledo with her family, though she promises to remember where she came from. In 1923, Reina celebrates Turkish independence with her longtime friend and neighbor, a Muslim boy, causing her strict father to disown her and send her to live with an aunt in Cuba as punishment. Reina brings her mother’s oud with her and passes it on to Alegra, her daughter, who serves as a brigadista in Castro’s literacy campaign before fleeing to the U.S. in 1961. In Miami in 2003, Paloma, Alegra’s daughter, who has an Afro-Cuban dad, is excited to travel to Spain with her family to explore their roots. They find a miraculous connection in Toledo. Woven through all four girls’ stories is the same Ladino song (included with an English translation); as Paloma says, “I’m connected to those who came before me through the power of the words we speak, the words we write, the words we sing, the words in which we tell our dreams.” Behar’s diligent research and her personal connection to this history, as described in a moving author’s note, shine through this story of generations of girls who use music and language to survive, tell their stories, and connect with past and future.
Powerful and resonant. (sources) (Historical fiction. 10-15)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593323403
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Stronger books may exist about the 1960s, but female friendship tales never go out of style.
For “bad girls,” hell can be a place on Earth.
In Houston in the early ’60s, girls only seem to have two choices: be a good girl and get married or be a bad girl and live your life. Fifteen-year-old Evie, from a working-class White family, became a bad girl after her sister’s shotgun wedding took her away from home. Mexican American neighbor Juanita, who smokes, drinks, wears intense eye makeup, and runs with the tough crowd, takes Evie under her wing, but despite the loyalty of this new sisterhood, Evie often feels uncertain of her place. When a rich girl from the wealthy part of town named Diane saves Evie from assault by killing the attacker, Evie finds a new friend and, through that friendship, discovers her own courage. This work borrows a few recognizable beats from S.E. Hinton’s 1967 classic, The Outsiders—class tensions, friendship, death, and a first-person narrative that frequently employs the word tuff—but with a gender-swapped spin. Overall, the novel would have benefited from a stronger evocation of the setting. During an era of societal upheaval, Evie struggles to reconcile her frustration at the limited roles defined for her and her friends, with many moments of understanding and reflection that will resonate with modern readers’ sensibilities—although sadly she still victim blames herself for the attempted assault.
Stronger books may exist about the 1960s, but female friendship tales never go out of style. (author's note, resources) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-23258-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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