An engaging, sometimes-harrowing account of the first casualty in what became known as the Battle of the Atlantic.
The ocean liner Athenia was the first ship sunk by a U-boat after Great Britain declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, and this true story recounts the incident through the experiences of two children who survived the attack.
Eleven-year-old Russell Park and 14-year-old Florence Kelly, both white Americans, were sailing home from summer holidays when a torpedo from U-30 struck the trans-Atlantic ocean liner in the boiler and engine areas. Mullenbach ably describes the prewar environment in both Europe and the United States and the tense days leading to the outbreak of war. She discusses the threats of fascism and militarism in Europe and Japan but does not explain the contexts for their ascendancy. The narrative is most effective in its vivid account of the chaos and confusion aboard the Athenia immediately following the attack and the harrowing efforts to rescue survivors. Mullenbach makes extensive use of firsthand accounts and other primary sources, but details of Park’s and Kelly’s experiences are limited. Of the 1,418 passengers and crew aboard, 128 lost their lives, a sobering fact Mullenbach handles with sensitivity.
An engaging, sometimes-harrowing account of the first casualty in what became known as the Battle of the Atlantic. (maps, photos, timeline, source notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61373-824-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality.
An examination of the history of Chinese American experiences.
Blackburn opens with a note to readers about growing up feeling invisible as a multicultural, biracial Chinese American. She notes the tremendous diversity of Chinese American history and writes that this book is a starting point for learning more. The evenly paced narrative starts with the earliest recorded arrival of the Chinese in America in 1834. A teenage girl, whose real name is unknown, arrived in New York Harbor with the Carnes brothers, merchants who imported Chinese goods and put her on display “like an animal in a circus.” The author then examines shifting laws, U.S. and global political and economic climates, and changing societal attitudes. The book introduces the highlighted people—including Yee Ah Tye, Wong Kim Ark, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Vincent Chen—in relation to lawsuits or other transformative events; they also stand as examples for explaining concepts such as racial hierarchy and the model minority myth. Maps, photos, and documents are interspersed throughout. Chapters close with questions that encourage readers to think critically about systems of oppression, actively engage with the material, and draw connections to their own lives. Although the book covers a wide span of history, from the Gold Rush to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the Covid-19 pandemic, it thoroughly explains the various events. Blackburn doesn’t shy away from describing terrible setbacks, but she balances them with examples of solidarity and progress.
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality. (resources, bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567630
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
An extraordinary tale of sisterhood and survival, told with simplicity.
A true story of two sisters—one Deaf and one hearing—and how they endured a perilous childhood in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.
Herta Myers, 8, and Renee, 10, are sisters living in Bratislava, the capital of what was then Czechoslovakia, during World War II. Renee is her family’s ears, as Herta and both of their parents are Deaf. They all communicate using sign language. Renee becomes so good at recognizing the sound of soldiers’ boots outside the window that she can warn her family of any danger. With narration traded between the girls, readers learn that the sisters are hidden on a farm with a couple who are also Deaf. Eventually, separated from their parents, the sisters’ journey leads them to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where their collective resolve is endlessly tested. This is a compelling story, exploring the role that senses play when one is in danger as well as presenting the candid recollections of everyday details of two children navigating appalling conditions during wartime. It is, however, a lot to process for kids who are as young as Herta and Renee were at the time of their most traumatic experiences. In the epilogue, co-author Greene reveals that this book is largely a compilation and interweaving of the transcripts of interviews that these two sisters gave to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University.
An extraordinary tale of sisterhood and survival, told with simplicity. (poem, photographs) (Memoir. 10-14)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-75335-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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