Orphan Train

Author: Christina Baker Kline
Pages: 273
Rating: PG-13 at LEAST. The F-word occured about 10 times, on one occasion a couple is making out and the boy touches the girl's breasts under her shirt (the makeout session is not the real point of the scene, there's dialogue that is totally unrelated) and one character is sexually assaulted. The book is not FILLED with inappropriate conduct, but I did want to mention that those scenes are in there. Other than what I mentioned, it's really quite clean overall. Interestingly enough, there is another version of this book "Orphan Train Girl" that was adapted for a younger audience.

Summary:Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by pure luck. Would they be adopted by a kind and loving family, or would they face a childhood and adolescence of hard labor and servitude? As a young Irish immigrant, Vivian Daly was one such child, sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine, the memories of her upbringing rendered a hazy blur. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attic is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes and possessions, she discovers that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they appear. A Penobscot Indian who has spent her youth in and out of foster homes, Molly is also an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship.

My Thoughts: I love historical fiction. Especially when the book is about a part of history that I'm unfamiliar with. I loved that this book connected the experiences of a girl who rode one of the orphan trains with a modern day story of a girl who had been in and out of foster homes most of her life. The stories were both so easy to connect with, and all the choices that each girl makes are so clear and easy to understand. I feel like I do this a lot lately, but I don't know what else to say about this book without giving too much away. Super interesting, worth the read. =)

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Author: David Wroblewski
Pages: 562
Rating: PG-13 - I think there was some language and also it's kind of violent in some places. It's very mature, that's for sure.

Summary:
Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose remarkable gift for companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. Edgar seems poised to carry on his family's traditions, but when catastrophe strikes, he finds his once-peaceful home engulfed in turmoil.
Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the Sawtelle farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who accompany him, until the day he is forced to choose between leaving forever or returning home to confront the mysteries he has left unsolved.
Filled with breathtaking scenes—the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain—The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a meditation on the limits of language and what lies beyond, a brilliantly inventive retelling of an ancient story, and an epic tale of devotion, betrayal, and courage in the American heartland.

My Thoughts: I really don't know what to say about this book. I think that Wroblewski is a good writer, because there was never a point where I was just plain bored and wanted to put the book down, but I didn't really GET it. First of all, the book is way too long. There are lots of places where the author feels the need to talk about some aspect of dog training or breeding for several pages, and it does nothing whatsoever to further the storyline. It's definitely interesting and different, but I'm not sure I'm happy that I spent so much of my time reading it. Also, the story is supposed to be a modern day retelling of Hamlet....so that gives you an idea of how the book ends. It's very unsatisfying.

Edith's Story

Author: Edith Velmans
Pages: 239
Rating: PG - Edith never goes to any of the camps and doesn't have to witness many horrors
Summary:
In 1940, while the Germans occupied Holland, fourteen-year-old Edith van Hessen was filling her diary with the intimate, carefree details of a typical teenager's life — thoughts about boys, school, her family, her friends, her future. By 1942, as Edith was contemplating her first kiss, the Germans had begun to escalate their war against the Jews. Soon this bright, fun-loving girl was grappling with one of the most unfathomable events in human history. Edith's family — assimilated Dutch Jews — were caught in the cross fire of the Holocaust, and Edith began a bitter struggle to survive.

In this extraordinary work, Edith Velmans weaves together revealing entries from her diaries with reminiscences and letters smuggled between family members during the occupation. Edith's Story stands as a profoundly important addition to the literature of the Holocaust, documenting one girl's grief, loss, courage, and ultimate triumph over devastating tyranny and despair. For as Edith is hidden in plain sight by a Christian family, we witness how a young woman must deny, bargain with, and finally face the horrors of war — and how, confronting evil as a child, Edith survives to become an extraordinary woman.

My Thoughts: Edith Van Hessen has been called "The Anne Frank who lived." I felt like this was a very fitting description for her because, like Anne Frank, Edith kept a diary for a large part of the war, and she was also extremely optimistic. There's a quote from Anne Frank's diary where she says something about how she strives to see the good in everything and everyone, and that's very much how Edith was. She did her best to keep a sunny outlook and cheerful disposition, trying to find the best in every situation, no matter how difficult her life became.

I personally loved this book because it was so different from the other Holocaust survival stories I've read. Edith and her familiy had managed to secure visas to America before the Nazis occupied Holland, but they didn't leave because they were unable to get a visa for their grandmother and they couldn't bear to leave her. Edith had two older brothers, and it was decided that the oldest would go. Edith is hidden with a friend's family, in plain sight. She is explained to the neighbors as a family friend who came to visit just for the summer, but then her parents were both in the hospital, so they couldn't bear to send her home. No one suspects a thing, and Edith survives without any difficulties. However, she goes through the guilt and the horror of surviving and living just fine when her family members are having to deal with unkown horrors. She has no idea what is happening to them, and will not find out about it until after the war is over.

I really just enjoyed this book a lot. It was amazing to see how Edith refused to succumb to hoplessness and despair even when everything around her was crumbling. She kept her head up and rarely asked "why me?" It was inspirational.

The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak
Pages: 550
Rating: PG
Summary:
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

My Thoughts: First of all, whether you've seen the movie or not, GO READ THIS BOOK! I have not seen the movie, but I already know I don't have to see it to know the book is absolutely worth reading. This is one of those books that while the story itself is moving and captivating, you read the book for the way it is written. Zusak is a master of figurative language, and he spins sentences so beautiful you have to read them twice just to make sure you are absorbing the full meaning of it.

"The words were on their way, and when they arrived, Leisel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain."
"Two giant words were struggled with, carried on her shoulder, and dropped as a bungling pair at Ilsa Hermann's feet. They fell off sideways as the girl veered with them and could no longer sustain their weight. Together, they sat on the floor, large and loud and clumsy."
"The reply floated from his mouth, then molded itself like a stain to the ceiling. Such was his feeling of shame."
"The guilt was already there. It was moist. The seed was already bursting into a dark-leafed flower."
"Her nerves licked her palms."
"The wind showered through her hair. Her feet swam with the pedals."
"A graze struck a match on the side of her face, where she'd met the ground. Her pulse flipped it over, frying it on both sides."

See what I mean? You just can't get that from a movie. It's incredible. As for the actual story - I really enjoyed reading about World War Two from the perspective of a young, relatively safe German girl, whose family ends up hiding a Jew. She and her best friend end up really hating Hitler, because their lives are miserable. They are poor, hungry, and their fathers are forced into service because they don't always agree with everything the Nazis say. Leisel is a foster child, who watched her brother die on the train on the way to her foster parents' house in another part of Germany. When she arrives, she does not know how to read, but her foster father Hans painstakingly teaches her until she is obsessed with books and reading. She lives an extremely difficult life, but in the process she learns kindness, love, and selflessness. She never buys in to the German propaganda that Jews are the enemy. After all, the Jew they are hiding in the basement has become one of her closest friends.

Another favorite thing about this book is that Death is the narrator. It's a different perspective that's for sure. He is not vindictive or gleeful. He is simply an observer, and he sometimes is quite sorrowful at all he is required to observe. He says that war is not his friend. It is more like a boss that keeps demanding that you work even harder than you ever have before, and is never pleased with your performance. Also, Death doesn't believe in suspense. He pretty much tells you the ending multiple times before it happens. The ending isn't important, it's the journey to get there that he wants to tell.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Don't just watch the movie. You MUST read this book. It's incredible.

The Age of Miracles

Author: Karen Thompson Walker
Pages: 269

Rating: PG-13 (There is some language, including maybe 3-4 F-words. I would say there's probably a swear word once every 30 pages or so. It's not a lot.)

Summary:
On an ordinary Saturday, Julia awakes to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer, gravity is affected, the birds, the tides, human behavior and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world of danger and loss, Julia faces surprising developments in herself, and her personal world—divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by Hanna and other friends, the vulnerability of first love, a sense of isolation, and a rebellious new strength.

My Thoughts: This is first novel, and the concept was interesting, but I thought the author could have gone a lot farther with it. Basically, the earth's rotation slows down so that eventually "days" and "nights" are lasting 60 hours each. But instead of something really interesting happening, everyone just does their best to adapt. It's more of a coming of age story, but with a different setting than you've seen before. I thought it was a good book, definitely interesting, but not as good as I thought it was going to be. Also, I couldn't figure out how the title applied. The only "miracle" in the book was that the earth wasn't turning they way it's supposed to. Everything else was just sad, like birds dying and people getting sick.

Love, Stargirl

Author: Jerry Spinelli
Pages: 274
Rating: G

Summary:
Love, Stargirl picks up a year after Stargirl ends and reveals the new life of the beloved character who moved away so suddenly at the end of Stargirl. The novel takes the form of "the world's longest letter," in diary form, going from date to date through a little more than a year's time. In her writing, Stargirl mixes memories of her bittersweet time in Mica, Arizona, with involvements with new people in her life.

In Love, Stargirl, we hear the voice of Stargirl herself as she reflects on time, life, Leo, and—of course—love.

My Thoughts: I didn't like this book as much as I enjoyed Stargirl. It's nice to know that Stargirl is actually real and that she lives on in another place, still thinking of Leo all the time, but the book just didn't really do it for me. She seems so much more mystical in the first book, so much more vibrant and exciting and different. This book normalizes her. There are some pretty interesting characters, such as the little girl, Dootsie, who becomes Stargirl's best friend (she is pretty hilarious) and a lady named Betty Lou, who is afraid to leave her house. It was a cute book, but not lifechanging for sure. 

Artichoke's Heart

Author: Suzanne Supplee
Pages: 276
Rating: PG

Summary:It's not so easy being Rosemary Goode and tipping the scales at almost two hundred pounds, especially when your mother runs the most successful (and gossipiest!) beauty shop in town. After a spectacularly disastrous Christmas break when the scale reaches an all-time high, Rosemary realizes that things need to change. (A certain basketball player, Kyle Cox, might have something to do with it.) So begins a powerful year of transformation and a journey toward self-discovery that surprisingly has little to do with the physical, and more to do with an honest look at how Rosemary feels about herself.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. Rosemary is a character that is easy to identify with, at least in some way. She has extremely low self-esteem because of her weight, and seems to think that everyone in her life is just disgusted by how fat she is. She also has this idea that if you are skinny and beautiful, your life must be easy and perfect.

After Rosemary finally decides to start losing some weight, she begins to make friends, and even gains the attention of Kyle Cox, the cute new basketball player. What she doesn't seem to understand is that her new friends and Kyle don't care at all how much she weighs. They're interested in her because of who she is, and that's a nice, funny, and caring person.

This is definitely a fantastic teen read, because it really teaches a lot about how to have your self-esteem come from just being who you are, instead of thinking you have to be like someone else in order to be accepted. I would totally recommend this one.

The Berlin Boxing Club

Author: Robert Sharenow
Pages: 400
Rating: PG - a few bad words, mild violence

Summary:

Karl Stern has never thought of himself as a Jew; after all, he's never even been in a synagogue. But the bullies at his school in Nazi-era Berlin don't care that Karl's family doesn't practice religion. Demoralized by their attacks against a heritage he doesn't accept as his own, Karl longs to prove his worth.
Then Max Schmeling, champion boxer and German hero, makes a deal with Karl's father to give Karl boxing lessons. A skilled cartoonist, Karl never had an interest in boxing, but now it seems like the perfect chance to reinvent himself.
But when Nazi violence against Jews escalates, Karl must take on a new role: family protector. And as Max's fame forces him to associate with Nazi elites, Karl begins to wonder where his hero's sympathies truly lie. Can Karl balance his boxing dreams with his obligation to keep his family out of harm's way?

My Thoughts: I happen to love novels about Nazi Germany. I think the entire period is just completely facsinating. I love the different tilt to this novel, with Karl being someone who not only doesn't practice any religion, he doesn't even look like the stereotypical Jew. He feels like he shouldn't have to suffer through all the difficulties of his time, because he doesn't consider himself Jewish. Boxing is the way he feels he will prove himself to the world.

This is a really great novel, mixing the world of sports and one of the most difficult historical periods in history. I would recommend it to anyone, even if you're not interested in boxing. You don't have to be to enjoy this novel of a young boy just trying to prove his worth and understand the confusing world around him.

13 Gifts

Author: Wendy Mass
Pages: 339
Rating: G

Summary: When Tara, a self-proclaimed shrinking violet, steals the school mascot, a goat, in order to make some friends with the popular crowd and gets caught, she gets herself in a heap of trouble. In addition, her parents decide that instead of taking her on their summer trip to Madagascar to study the courtship rituals of the Bamboo Lemur, she must go stay with her aunt, uncle, and bratty cousin Emily St. Claire in Willow Falls. Tara thinks it's a good time to start over; she'll be turning 13 after all, so she might as well make the best of it and perhaps even attempt to break out of her shell (in a non-criminal manner). What Tara doesn't know is that this charmed town has something big in store for her on her 13th birthday. It's not a typical birthday. But then again, nothing is Willow Falls is exactly typical!

My Thoughts: Eh. This is a book that's all well and good for a preteen. I'd say it's definitely interesting, with weird twists you don't expect, but I felt like some of it was overdramatic, and a lot of the stuff Tara does or has to deal with in the book just works out WAY too easily. There aren't really any true obstacles. Everything she comes up against seems like an issue for all of like 10 minutes and then the problems are solved in some quick and simple way that in real life would probably never happen.

Also, I was annoyed because there are a few mysteries in the book that don't really get solved because they have to do with other characters and apparently they have their own books, 11 Birthdays, and Finally. So that bothered me. You get to hear the end of Tara's story, but there are these two odd characters Leo and Amanda and something fishy is going on with them the entire book, yet it ends without you ever getting to find out what's going on with them.

Like I said, this is definitely a clean and wonderful book for the 10-14 age group, but I found a lot lacking in it from an adult perspective.

Marrying Malcolm Murgatroyd

Author: Mame Farrell
Pages: 122
Rating: G

Summary: Hannah dreads her school autobiographical writing project; she doesn't want to admit that the biggest nerd in sixth grade, Malcolm Murgatroyd, is a long-time family friend and best friend to her brother, who has muscular dystrophy. She hates being teased by her family about marrying Malcolm, until he reveals his true personality when her brother succumbs to his disease.

My Thoughts: I bought this book at a scholastic book fair when I was in about the 5th grade. At the time, I was obsessed with all things love story and romantic, and the fact that this book had the word "marrying" in the title was a good enough reason for me to snatch it up. I also thought that the girl on the cover looked so much older and mature, so I was sure this would be a very romantic story. I was dead wrong, but not disappointed.

Hannah is part of the popular crowd at school, and in order to keep it that way, she keeps her family's relationship with Malcolm a very close secret. Their families have been friends since before Hannah was born, and Malcolm, although physically awkward and painfully "uncool" is very emotionally mature, and knows exactly how to handle difficult situations like Hannah's brother Ian being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Because of their family relationship, Hannah feels like it is her duty to stand up for Malcolm when he gets bullied at school, usually by her group of friends. However, this has the potential to put her in the line of fire as well, which she is afraid to do.

I absolutely love this book. It's short and simple, I would say that 4th grade and up could read it, and it has an amazing message about how it doesn't really matter what someone looks like on the outside. It's what they are on the inside that counts, and standing up for someone is always the right thing to do, even when we are afraid of being the target ourselves. If you ever come across this book, it's definitely worth the short time it will take you to read it. It has such a sweet ending and an amazing message.

Zig Zag

Author: Ellen Wittlinger

Pages: 264

Rating: PG-13, but just barely. There's a little language, but not much, and at the beginning it's clear that Robin does have sex with her boyfriend, but there are no graphic sex scenes. They just have a conversation about what their parents would think if they knew. But since the book is not really about Robin's relationship with Chris, I don't really think you should let that fact keep you from reading the book.

Summary:Robin can't believe it when her boyfriend, Chris, tells her that his parents have enrolled him in a summer program in Rome. It's their last summer together before he goes away to college, and now they won't even have that time together. It feels like the worst thing that's ever happened to her.

Since Chris is leaving, Robin agrees to join her aunt and cousins on a cross-country road trip, in spite of her reservations -- she and her younger cousins have never really gotten along, and since their father's death they've become even more problematic than before.

Soon the four of them are zigzagging through the West on an eye-opening journey. They explore parts of the country Robin never dreamed existed -- and she discovers inner resources she never imagined she had.

My Thoughts: This book was one of my high school favorites, and I still liked it. It brought back a lot of nostalgia at the beginning when Robin feels like it's the end of the world that her boyfriend is leaving and that she is nothing without him. I totally remember feeling that way when my high school boyfriend went off to college and left me behind.

Robin is really funny, and her cousins, Iris and Marshall, have lots of problems. They're such real characters though. They are trying to deal with a huge tragedy, and they each choose different ways to deal with it. Marshall draws violent pictures, and Iris is just snotty all the time and she's hovering on the verge of bulimia. Robin is thrown in the mix to somehow get them all through the summer, and she ends up acting like the family's therapist. Robin ends up handling the whole mess extremely well. She's such a strong character, even though she has very little faith in herself. She learns a lot along the way, and she grows up a lot too.

It's not your average dopey teenage love story or anything. These kids have real issues, and the trip helps them to heal and come closer together. That's part of why I like this book. It has a lot of lessons written into an easy to read story about a family on a road trip across the USA.

In Zanesville

Author: Jo Ann Beard

Pages: 287

Rating: PG mostly, but there is a smidge of language. Not a lot though. 

Summary: The beguiling fourteen-year-old narrator of IN ZANESVILLE is a late bloomer. She is used to flying under the radar-a sidekick, a third wheel, a marching band dropout, a disastrous babysitter, the kind of girl whose Eureka moment is the discovery that "fudge" can't be said with an English accent.

Luckily, she has a best friend, a similarly undiscovered girl with whom she shares the everyday adventures of a 1970s American girlhood, incidents through which a world is revealed, and character is forged.

In time, their friendship is tested-- by their families' claims on them, by a clique of popular girls who stumble upon them as if they were found objects, and by the first, startling, subversive intimations of womanhood.

With dry wit and piercing observation, Jo Ann Beard shows us that in the seemingly quiet streets of America's innumerable Zanesvilles is a world of wonders, and that within the souls of the awkward and the overlooked often burns something radiant and unforgettable.

My Thoughts: This isn't really a novel I'll probably remember forever, but I will admit that it was interesting and the writing was excellent. Beard is one of those authors that can describe things so well that you're left thinking, "yes, it is like that" even if you never would have thought to describe it that way before. If you're really into coming of age novels, this is just another one of those. The thing for me is that nothing really happens in this book. There are some problems with her best friend because suddenly the popular girls want to hang out with one of them but not the other, but that's really all. They briefly experiment with boys, just kind of to see what it feels like. Mostly, it's just a series of the kind of events girls have to deal with growing up, and it's kind of funny watching this make her way through it. The way she expresses her trepidation of having to wear a bra someday cracked me up. "It's like being on your way to the Alps and knowing that when you get there you'll have to wear lederhosen."

One interesting fact about the book...they never tell you the name of the main character, although I was more than halfway through the book before I realized this. The closest I got was that she has the same name as one of the girls in Little Women, but she's not Amy. "Little Amy March grew up while no one was looking, wandered away from wherever it was they lived, and became an artist, while the one named after me had to stay and be in a worse book later." This wasn't enough of a clue for me, so if anyone else knows Little Women better than I do, let me know what this girl's name is because I was extremely curious by the end.

I will say I found the ending disappointing, but I was never disappointed while actually reading the book. I did enjoy it. The author does a wonderful job capturing the essence of a young teenager trying to figure out what it means to grow up, while still being afraid to leave childhood behind.

By George, by Wesley Stace

Pages: 378

Rating: PG-13 (There is mention of sex, but not really graphically, however, towards the end, quite a few F-words get thrown in there, which was a disappointment.)

Summary: In the illustrious history of the theatrical Fishers, there are two Georges. One is a peculiar but endearing 11-year-old, raised in the seedy world of `70s boarding houses and backstages, now packed off to school for the first time; the other, a garrulous ventriloquist's dummy who belonged to George's grandfather, a favorite traveling act of the British troops in World War II. The two Georges know nothing of each other--until events conspire to unite them in a search to uncover the family's deepest secrets.

Weaving the boy's tale and the puppet's "memoirs," BY GEORGE unveils the fascinating Fisher family--its weak men, its dominant women, its disgruntled boys, and its shocking and dramatic secrets. At once bitingly funny and exquisitely tender, Stace's novel is the unforgettable journey of two young boys separated by years but driven by the same desires: to find a voice, and to be loved.

My Thoughts: Ok, honestly, I was not a huge fan of this book. For the most part, I think it was just too LONG. The story could have been told just as well in probably 150 pages less. There was a lot of pointless filler story in there about day to day life, that I felt just wasn't really necessary to further the story. It took me forever to finish this book because I kept getting frustrated with its lack of direction, so I'd put it down and read something else for a while. I found myself skimming quite a lot as I got towards the end.

There are two mysteries going on in the book and they are solved near the end. George finds out who his real father is (although, I figured it out before he did) and they find out what really happened to his grandpa Joe. Like I said already though, the lead up to finding all this out is just too boring. I felt like the book was also kind of depressing too, as though no one really got what they wanted at the end. It was all just very melancholy. Another problem I had with this book was I had this feeling of disconnect between me and the characters. It sometimes felt as if all the characters in the book were connected and knew what was going on, and they were throwing back and forth little bits of conversation and innuendos that made perfect sense to them, but I was completely out of the loop. I felt a little lost at times. I didn't feel a part of the story really. More of a confused observer.

Overall, I probably would not recommend this book, but if you still think it sounds interesting, go ahead and give it a try.

Vaclav and Lena, by Haley Tanner

Pages: 288

Rating:PG-13. There isn't so much swearing that I was unable to finish, but by the end of the book I was getting a little uncomfortable with it. Sex is discussed, but not graphically. It's very obvious that it happened, but again, the sex scene did not make me uncomfortable because it wasn't too detailed. It's a very serious book, dealing with heavy stuff, so I wouldn't recommend this to a young teen. This is definitely more of a young adult/adult novel.

Summary:Vaclav and Lena seem destined for each other. They meet as children in an ESL class in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Vaclav is precocious and verbal. Lena, struggling with English, takes comfort in the safety of his adoration, his noisy, loving home, and the care of Rasia, his big-hearted mother. Vaclav imagines their story unfolding like a fairy tale, or the perfect illusion from his treasured Magician’s Almanac, but among the many truths to be discovered in Haley Tanner’s wondrous debut is that happily ever after is never a foregone conclusion.

One day, Lena does not show up for school. She has disappeared from Vaclav and his family’s lives as if by a cruel magic trick. For the next seven years, Vaclav says goodnight to Lena without fail, wondering if she is doing the same somewhere. On the eve of Lena’s seventeenth birthday he finds out.

Haley Tanner has the originality and verve of a born storyteller, and the boldness to imagine a world in which love can overcome the most difficult circumstances. In Vaclav & Lena she has created two unforgettable young protagonists who evoke the joy, the confusion, and the passion of having a profound, everlasting connection with someone else.

My Thoughts: I'm really not 100% sure how I feel about this book. It was definitely easy to read, and I got through it rather quickly, but for some reason the whole thing didn't feel quite real. The characters didn't feel real, the entire story seemed to be taking place in some sort of dream world, not real life. In fact, for the first few chapters, I failed to realize that the book takes place in modern time, not in like the 40's or something. It's certainly a very moving book. Lena has had a very difficult life, and somehow, she has to deal with it all and get through it. Her coping mechanisms are not really healthy, but you feel like you understand her, like you know exactly how she is feeling.

The author certainly knows how to write. The metaphors and the way she describes things makes perfect sense, but I know if I tried to describe it, I would be totally lost for words. For example, here's a quote from near the end that I liked. "They keep their secrets in the safe pockets between their clasped palms, protecting them and wanting instinctively to shield them like tiny shiny frogs found in the wet grass, but wanting simultaneously to share them, to show and share such an exciting new thing."

It's really just kind of a story of trying to grow up and find your place in a country that is not your own. Vlaclav and Lena are both from Russia, and they struggle with finding acceptance in school where they do not fully understand the language. The way they think is so perfect, and it amazes me that the author could capture the mind of a child so perfectly. It's very deep and intense. You'll definitely come away feeling something in yourself, but what it is kind of depends on you. I liked it, but I wasn't sure how I liked the end. There was closure, but I still wanted more, which I guess tells you it was a good book, because I wasn't ready for it to be over. Despite the swearing, I would probably recommend this book, but again, only to someone maybe 17 and up, cuz the topics it covers are just too serious and intense for someone much younger to really understand.