Sheds light on a fascinating episode in history but sadly does not do justice to the nuances.
Twelve-year-old Natsu lives with her father and 6-year-old sister, Asa, in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in northern China.
Kachan died while giving birth to Asa, so when Tochan is conscripted to support Japan’s failing war effort, Auntie, an older neighbor, moves in—but the summer of 1945 brings the Soviet invasion. The settlers set off on foot toward the city of Harbin. Facing harsh weather, angry Chinese villagers, bullets from Soviet planes, hunger, and exhaustion, many die along the way. Harbin is filled with desperate Japanese, and Natsu begs on the streets, dreaming of finding Tochan. Some parents kill their own children, believing that a more merciful fate; others sell them to Chinese or Russians, hoping they will at least be fed and cared for. Unfortunately, the characters and their relationships feel static and two-dimensional in Natsu’s free-verse narration, limiting the emotional impact. The historical note troublingly compares the plight of Japanese settlers who took over Chinese land and whose government inflicted appalling atrocities on the local population (glossed over in the book) to refugees such as those from Rwanda and Syria. Readers may struggle to make sense of a scene in which Natsu and Asa aggressively confront a hungry Chinese boy. The suffering of the Japanese settlers—duped and abandoned by their country—and the suffering of the Chinese they displaced are not fully contextualized.
Sheds light on a fascinating episode in history but sadly does not do justice to the nuances. (afterword) (Historical verse fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-15921-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
PROFILES
A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates.
Siblings decode familial and wartime secrets in 1940 England.
Headstrong 14-year-old Lizzie Novis refuses to believe that her mother, a U.S. embassy clerk who was working in Poland, is dead. After fleeing from her grandmother—who’s attempting to bring her back to America—Lizzie locates her 19-year-old brother, Jakob, a Cambridge mathematician who’s stationed at the clandestine British intelligence site called Bletchley Park. Hiding from her grandmother’s estate steward, Lizzie becomes a messenger at Bletchley Park, ferrying letters across the grounds while Jakob attempts to both break the ciphers generated by the German Enigma machines and help his sister face the reality of their mother’s likely fate. With a suspicious MI5 agent inquiring about Mum and clues and codes piling up, the siblings, whose late father was “Polish Jewish British,” eventually decipher the truth. Shared narrative duties between the siblings effectively juxtapose the measured Jakob with the spirited Lizzie. Lizzie’s directness is repeatedly attributed to her being “half American,” which proves tiresome, but Jakob’s development from reserved to risk-tolerant provides welcome nuance. The authors introduce and carefully explain a variety of decoding methodologies, inspiring readers to attempt their own. A thoughtful and entertaining historical note identifies the key figures who appear in the book, such as Alan Turing, as well as the real-life bases for the fictional characters. Interspersed photos and images of ephemera help situate the narrative’s time period.
A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates. (Historical mystery. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780593527542
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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