Middle Grade Fiction
Echo by Pam Muñez Ryan
Once upon a time, a little boy in Germany becomes lost in the forest where he meets three strange young women and finds a book that tells an odd tale about them, a witch, and a harmonica that must save a life for the women to be freed.
And that harmonica will bring together the stories of Friedrich, a boy in 1930s Germany born with a birthmark on his face, Mike, an orphan in 1930s Pennsylvania, and Ivy, a girl in Orange County, California in 1942.
Target Readers:
- Light Fantasy Historical Fiction Fans/Award Winner Readers/Touching Story Fans: Despite this book’s massive size it and the next book in this list average the most check outs per year for middle grade historical fiction. Students love this book, and it is a middle grade novel high schoolers aren’t ashamed to check out either.
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Ada was born with a club foot. Her mother has told her that her crippled foot makes her useless and unwanted. She hides Ada away in the house, treats her like dirt, and tells Ada she's protecting the rest of the world from her. Ada's life isn't happy, but she makes do. And her younger brother Jamie is a bright spot in her life. When Mama is out working, the two siblings have moments of fun and joy despite little to eat. Jamie is growing up and attending school now, though, and Ada is starting to feel left behind. Then Jamie comes home with news that they are evacuating all children because of the war Hitler is threatening. Ada decides that she must go away with Jamie, so she works on standing and walking when Mama is not watching. The day of the evacuation the two siblings sneak out before their mother can stop them and soon find themselves in a strange town in the country. No one wants the two grubby evacuees, and eventually they get dumped on a reclusive spinster lady named Susan Smith. Susan claims to know nothing about children and begs off taking them, but the wily woman in charge of the evacuees manages to get them placed with her anyway. Despite Susan's rough exterior, the two neglected children soon blossom under her care. With the help of an old pony and a scruffy cat, as well as the soft depths of Susan's outwardly-crusty heart, Ada and Jamie begin to heal, grow and recover from their former lives. And a war that threatens everyone's lives ends up dramatically changing three lives for the better.
Target Readers:
- WWII Fans/Award Winner Readers/Those Who Want to Better Understand People with Disabilities/Those Who Like Stories of Redemption/Fans of Great Writing/Horse Lovers: This book and its sequel, The War I Finally Won (which came out last year and I actually like even more than this one) are super popular. They are touching stories of two abused and neglected children finding out what love and family is supposed to be. There’s little bits about life in the countryside of England during WWII as well, and Ada’s riding adventures for the horse lovers. What most impressed me was Bradley’s ability to think through what kinds of things Ada would have been completely ignorant about locked away for much of her life. It’s a touching and heart-felt read, and middle graders can’t get enough of it.
Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
(This book is published under the title A Most Improper Magick in the UK.)
Kat is the youngest of three daughters in a country parsonage in Yorkshire, Victorian England. She also has a brother who has disgraced the family with gambling debts, and a stepmama who is tiresome but not entirely evil. Stepmama is currently plotting to restore the family fortune by marrying off Kat's eldest sister, Elissa, to the ridiculously rich Sir Neville. But Kat and her other sister Angeline are worried because there are rumors that Sir Neville actually murdered his first wife. Stepmama says not to listen to ridiculous rumors, and Elissa seems determined to play the martyr and do her familial duty. While Elissa is resigning herself to her fate, Kat is being her curious 12 year old self and inevitably getting herself into trouble. First, she discovers that Angeline has been reading Mama's magic journals and tries to get a look at dear departed Mama's other artifacts. In the process she discovers that she is Mama's heir and that a Mr. Gregson wants to recruit her into an Order because she is a Guardian. Kat is wary of Mr Gregson and must snoop some other things out (and of course get into loads more trouble) before she can decide or figure out if her newly discovered magical abilities can help save Elissa from a horrible marriage.
Target Readers:
- Fantasy Fans/Regency Fans/Middle Grade Romantics: This is a reimagined Regency England where magic is a reality. Kat’s family adventures feel like an Austen plot, but there’s the added excitement of the magic abilities and the Order and hidden history of Mama. It’s a very fun intro to Regency fiction for middle graders…and many who have loved this have gone on to try Austen’s works and other Regency fiction in the adult fiction section. It’s also a light, clean romance for middle graders with two more books in the series that are also readily devoured.
The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck
Mouse Minor is called so because no one knows who he is or bothered to give him any other name. He has an ok life living in the Mews of Buckingham Palace. He sometimes gets into scuffs at school, and he doesn't really know where he is headed occupation-wise, but he has his Aunt Marigold who loves and cares for him and a full belly every night and the pride of living in a place that serves royalty, so he's ok really. But one day he is in a major scuff and misses school. In order to avoid the knuckle rapping of his life, Mouse Minor does not go to school...which sets him on the adventure of his life. First he is picked up by a cat (not to be eaten, thankfully). The cat introduces him to a horse who decides to show him a bit of the world. The horse ride leads to a run-in and induction into the Yeomice of the Guard. (Oh, I forgot to mention that for every human job there's a mouse doing that job too.) So Mouse Minor is on his first guard duty of Buckingham Palace on the eve of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee when he is kidnapped and the asking of one question leads him to places, mice, and answers he never considered in his wildest dreams.
Target Readers:
- Animal Lovers/Mystery Fans/Victorian England Fans: If you want to get kids to read historical fiction, this includes two enticing elements: an animal protagonist and a mystery. Mouse Minor is a delightfully plucky little hero, and the mouse world of Buckingham Palace Peck builds is so...well, Victorian and British. Two excellent qualities for a reader who loves the Victorian period. But at the same time, the book feels completely approachable for kids who have absolutely no connection with that time or culture. It has a good historical flavor, but also manages to be timeless with the characters and adventure.
Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk
Crow has a very loving home on a tiny island near Cuttyhunk island with Osh. Their life is simple, but between the ocean, Osh's care, and Miss Maggie's lessons, there's nothing more Crow needs. But that doesn't stop her from wondering where she came from or who put her in the boat she washed up in. The islanders believe she came from the leper colony that used to be on Penikese island, and therefore give her a wide berth. In her desire to be treated the same and answer deep questions about where she came from, Crow draws herself and Osh and Miss Maggie into grander adventures than any of them had ever desired.
Target Readers:
- Thriller Fans/Sea Story or Island Life Fans/Orphan Story Fans/Mystery Fans: I was enthralled with Wolk’s writing in this and so sad it didn’t get a shiny sticker during the ALA Awards this year. It’s still a winner in my heart. The book is a mix of island life of a bygone era, a girl looking for roots, and a surprising thriller aspect involving buried treasure and a thief. And though that sounds like an odd mixture, it works so very well. I’ve been shoving it into the hands of every reader I can since we got it.
The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
Penelope Lumley is a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, and her first posting as governess is at Ashton Place where her interviewers seem more nervous about the interview than she does and skirt the topic of the children until she has signed an employment contract. While unpacking her reticule, Penelope hears the unmistakable howling of an injured animal and she rushes off to comfort the poor suffering beast. Thanks to the influence of a series of books about the noble Edith-Anne and her adventures with horses Silky and Rainbow, Penelope has a thing for animals. She also has an armory of Edith-Anne experiences to draw on for advice in difficult circumstances (oh, and her poetry book, and the sage sayings from Agatha Swanburne, founder of Swanburne Academy...Agatha had wise sayings for every situation). Penelope forces her way into the barn, ignoring the protestations of the house keeper, only to find not an injured animal, but three very wild looking howling children. These, she discovers, are her charges who have been recently recovered from the woods. Undaunted and using her animal dominance knowledge, Penelope lets them know she is in charge and begins the long process of civilizing the children. The pressure for this gets turned up when Lady Ashton announces she is hosting a Christmas party in one month and Lord Ashton insists that they show off the children then. Penelope is sweating bullets all month long. The Christmas party begins well, with the children mostly saying the right things and not howling. But then the hired thespians start putting on tableaus that all have to do with wolves, Lord Ashton fails to show up at his own party, Penelope thinks she hears the guests murmuring about hunting the children, and a squirrel appears. Penelope is beside herself trying to keep the children in check and sort out all the mysterious goings on, but some mysteries just defy being solved in one volume. Which is why the rest of the books in these series are equally popular, and the finale is being eagerly awaited by several readers.
Target Readers:
- Lemony Snicket Fans/Animal Fans/Regency Fans/Adventure Fans/Humor Fans: Imagine for a minute the improbable idea of Lemony Snicket and the Brontë sisters collaborating on a book about children raised by wolves, and you might get something just like this. It isn’t technically fantasy, because there is no magic or anything like that involved. But it is definitely solidly improbable history, what with the children who act like wolves. Further mysteries build in the following books about Penelope’s history, the children’s history, and in the meantime they have everyday adventures that will keep readers laughing while eagerly trying to figure things out. This has had steady popularity for over five years with a wide variety of readers.
Middle Grade Graphic Novels
Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm, ill. by Matthew Holm
Sunny has to go stay for a part of the summer with her Gramps in Florida. She isn't too thrilled with Gramps' idea of fun, or that he lives in a 55 & over neighborhood. But when she meets the son of the golf course's groundskeeper, she finally finds a friend. Buzz introduces her to comic books and ways to pass the time in the retirement village. In flashbacks, readers slowly find out what was going on back in Pennsylvania with Sunny's brother Dale and why Sunny was sent to Florida for part of the summer. Eventually, the summer provides insight and healing for a little girl desperately in need of it.
Target Readers:
- Recent History Fans/Graphic Novel Fans: Set in the early 1970s Sunny’s world is just old enough it gets placed in the historical fiction genre. The graphic novel format and issues that resonate with contemporary fiction fans, mean this and its sequel are hardly ever on the shelf for more than 24 hrs at a time.
Snow White: a graphic novel by Matt Phelan
A graphic novel retelling of Snow White set in 1920s New York.
Target Readers:
- Fairy Tale Fans/Light Fantasy Fans/Graphic Novel Fans/Reluctant Readers/Those Practicing Using Context Clues/Depression Era Buffs: This is told with minimal text, lots of great black and white illustrations with tiny splashes of color here and there. Phelan expects his readers to be familiar enough with the fairy tale to be able to figure out what is going on, and that's why the minimal text works. If you happened upon someone somehow unfamiliar with the Snow White fairytale, they might struggle to understand the story. The setting in 1920s New York worked surprisingly well. Instead of a king, Snow White's father is a Wall Street giant, the evil queen is a Ziegfeld actress, there's a magical ticker tape instead of a mirror, seven street urchins instead of dwarves, a window display instead of a glass coffin, and a police inspector named Prince instead of an actual prince. I found Phelan's adaptation fresh and delightful, and other readers seem to agree. I especially liked how he ended things with Snow, the street urchins, and Detective Prince.
Compass South by Hope Larson, ill. by Rebecca Mock
Twin siblings Alex and Cleo were left with a man at birth along with a special knife and compass, but when their adoptive father goes missing, the two have to figure out a way to survive. They end up crossing the wrong gang and must find a way out of town. They see an ad in the paper looking for missing redhead twin boys just their age, which promises a tempting reward and decide to head off to San Francisco for it. Cleo cuts her hair to appear a boy, but at the dock they run into another set of redhead twins planning on doing the same thing. The gang appears but this time it seems they are after the knife and compass. The twin pairs get separated in the chase, though accompanied by one of the rival twins, and they wonder if they will ever be reunited or safe from the gang chasing them.
Target Readers:
- Adventure Fans/Mystery Fans/Graphic Novel Fans: This is set in the 1800s Americas. Much of the book takes place on ships, and there's a good amount of adventure to keep the story moving. I wasn’t sure how students would respond to this one, as the story starts off a little slow, so I held off on getting the sequel but it seems pretty popular.
Young Adult & Adult Fiction
Love, Lies, and Spies by Cindy Anstey
Miss Juliana Telford is headed to the Ton for her first Season accompanied by her rather overbearing Aunt, her downtrodden but kind Uncle, and her slightly silly cousin Carrie. The family will also be accompanied by neighboring aristocrats, the Pyebalds. Carrie and Vivian Pyebald are most definitely husband hunting. Juliana is most definitely not. She has one aim in going to London, getting the research she and her father have done on ladybirds published. If she has to put up with silly relatives and even sillier family friends for the time being, so be it. Of course, there's the little matter of actually surviving to make it to the season. She's been exceedingly accident prone of late, something she'd rather die than admit since she's rather independent, but which has had the benefit of throwing her across the path of Mr Spencer Northam. Mr Northam's friend, Mr. Bobbington is rather besotted with Vivian Pyebald, so the two come up with the scheme to pretend to be interested in each other so poor Mr Bobbington will have the chance to win the heart of Vivian. Mr Northam is also working for the Home Office, hunting down a French spy, and he has reasons to believe it is someone in the Pyebald household. Of course, Juliana's Aunt and Mrs Pyebald have their own schemes about proper matches, much to Juliana's chagrin. The Season proves to be most interesting, perhaps a little more exciting than hoped, and fraught with unanticipated entanglements of the heart.
Target Readers:
- Spy Story Fans/Regency Fiction Fans/Humor Fans/Clean Romance Fans/Those Looking for a Light Read: Anstey has done a superb job in writing a story that could have come from the pen of Austen herself. It feels authentic in the Regency aspects. There's plenty of witty banter to enjoy thanks to the spunkiness of our heroine, Miss Telford. There's also the excitement of the spy hunt. And of course, the situational comedy of misunderstandings between Miss Telford and Mr Northam and Mr Bobbington due to the secrets floating around. This has been quite popular among the teen girls at our school. Anstey's 2nd book, another Regency Romance, just got here and I predict it will be equally popular.
The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen
Abigail Foster's future isn't looking too good. The man she thought would propose to her is off to the continent to study architecture and may have taken a token from her sister with him. The investment she advised her father to make did not work out, and now the family is bankrupt, scrambling to figure out how they'll survive. For starters, Abigail decides to sacrifice her dowry so her little sister can have the season she's always dreamed. The first glimmer of hope comes in a strange offer from a distant cousin of her fathers inviting them to come live in Pembrooke Park, an abandoned estate. The estate is generous and comes at a bargain. But it has a dark past - which no one will fully tell to Abigail - and secrets abound in the surrounding village. There are rumors that some very bad things happened in the house, and also that there's a secret room full of treasure. Abigail discovers she's not only taking on the task of reopening a house abandoned for decades, but perhaps she's been brought here to uncover secrets and wounds festering too long. And perhaps, along the way, she can find some hope for her own future as well.
Target Readers:
- Mystery Fans/Thriller Fans/Regency Fans: This regency romance totters on the edge of being a thriller. Occasionally the mystery elements get a bit intense and I felt like I was reading peaking through my hands that wanted to cover my eyes in case it got scary. It never went over the edge, but it does get tense at times. I figured out some secrets before others, but overall the mystery was well done and kept me reading. The regency ambiance provided for an interesting setting for the tale, and Klassen knows the time period well. This one of hers felt more Brontë-ish than Austen-ish. And I liked the messages on forgiveness. Klassen has several other stand alone Regency fiction books and she’s become quite popular with the teens. I think part of it is that she usually includes a good mystery, while another part could be a positive intro to Jane Austen during sophomore year Brit Lit. There are also several staff members and staff spouses who like Regency and I know some of them have influenced teens they know to try out Klassen’s books. Whatever the reason, Regency Fiction is one of two time periods that teens willingly snatch up at our school, the other is WWII.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Flavia de Luce goes outside early one morning only to find a stranger breathing his last words in their cucumbers. Normal 11 year old girls would have screamed and fled the scene, but Flavia is 100% intrigued and when her father is arrested for the crime, is soon trying to untangle the knots surrounding the stranger, a rare stamp, her father's old schoolmaster, and the dead man in the garden.
Note: Click on the title to see full content notes.
Target Readers:
- Memorable Character Fans/Post WWII Fans/Mystery Fans: All of Flavia de Luce’s mysteries are well read at our school. She’s a very memorable girl with her penchant for poison and solving crime. She and her cases get readers into the time period just following WWII in England.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Leviathan is alternate historical fiction/steampunk set at the beginning of WWI, but instead of the technology we know, the Germans have different mechanical and the Brits have bio-engineered creatures that compose much of their armory and transportation devices. The story is split between a girl pretending to be a boy in the British Air Force, and Prince Aleksander, the son of the assassinated Austrian archduke whose death was used as an excuse to start WWI. Eventually, circumstances bring together these two young people. And their adventures in a reimagined WWI continue in two more books.
Note: Some war violence.
Target Readers:
- Adventure Fans/Scifi Fans/Steampunk Fans/Reimagined History Fans: Steampunk is another genre recently that has been getting kids into historical fiction without them realizing it. Despite all the different tech, the basics of WWI history are still in here to be picked up without even realizing it. This series is popular with a huge range of students and has been so consistently for a number of years.
These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
Josephine Montfort's life gets turned upside down when her father dies. The official report from the police is that he shot himself by accident while cleaning his gun. When Jo visit's her father's partner at the newspaper they own, though, she overhears a reporter, Eddie, telling others that the truth is Mr Montfort killed himself on purpose. Jo confronts the man and he takes her to his friend, a medical student who works in the morgue and studies the latest in forensic science. Oscar surprises both Jo and Eddie though when he tells them it was not suicide or an accident, the evidence said that Mr Montfort was murdered, but since Oscar was just a lowly medical student, no one listened to him at the scene. Jo decides to enlist Eddie's help in tracking down her father's murderer. He'll get a news story that will make him a big time reporter, and she'll get closure. But as Eddie and Jo dig into the case, they find things more serious and befuddling than they could have ever imagined. They also find themselves attracted to each other, an impossible situation in 1890s New York. It's an all but done deal that Jo will marry Bram Aldrich, the most eligible man in New York society. Even to be seen in public talking together could be a scandalous situation. Jo has to channel her secret desire to be Nellie Bly and be conniving and careful to stay involved in the case, one wrong step could ruin her socially...or worse.
Note: Click on the title to see full content notes.
Target Readers:
- Thriller Fans/Mystery Fans/Forensic Fans/Romance Fans/Stand Alone Fans: I have a group of students who have read this and made it their mission to shove it into the hands of everyone they know. And their numbers increase every time they get a willing reader. The mystery investigation gets quite tense at times, but is also very well done. The look at 1890s society in the slums and the upper circles and the ways Donnelly shows how they are vastly different but face similar issues was fascinating.
Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
Vidya is the younger of two sibblings in a more modern Brahmin Indian family during the beginnings of WWII. Her father is a doctor, active in the nonviolent Indian freedom movement, who believes that the caste system isn't necessarily right and that his daughter should have the freedom to go to college before marrying (uncommon at the time). Vidya and her father are returning to their home one day when they have to stop because of a protest. Vidya gets swept up in the hype and leaves the car against her father's wishes. He tries to stop her, ends up helping a woman being beaten by the British police, and is himself beaten until he suffers severe brain damage. At this point Vidya's life dramatically changes. She, her mother, brother, and her father must then go to live with the rest of her father's family in a more traditional Brahmin household. Vidya's life is made miserable by her aunt and uncle, and she realizes she will probably never get to go to college now. The one bright spot in her life is the library, which she at first visits on the sly --since it lies up on the mens' floor where women are forbidden-- and then, thanks to the all-powerful word of thatha (her Grandfather) she is granted access to daily. Climbing the stairs to the library ends up changing her life for the better in several ways.
Target Readers:
- India Fans/WWII Fans/Memorable Character Fans: This one is popular in our library for the Indian setting (we have several Indian students, and readers constantly looking for books set anywhere in Asia) and the unique perspective on WWII. Vidya is also a character who will stick with readers for a while.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
As World War II envelopes Europe, the lives of two teenagers, one a blind French girl, and one a young German, are entwined by radio waves, an ailing German soldier, and a legendary diamond on the small island of Saint-Malo. The story goes back and forth in time till eventually you get the whole picture of each person and the fateful events on Saint-Malo that bring them together.
Werner is a young German orphan when the rumblings of war break out. He is known in his community for his small build, shockingly blond hair, and knack with radios. If it's broken, he can puzzle it out and have it working again. Of course, these are the days before the radios are all confiscated. But this time period of tinkering with electronics gets noticed, and takes him away from his destiny in the mines to a special Nazi school where he helps a teacher develop a set of radios to help locate resistance broadcasts throughout Europe. Eventually, his age is tampered with and he is out in the midst of the war with a special team that hunts down rogue broadcasters.
Marie-Laure is blinded by an illness at a young age. Her father, keeper of the keys at the National Museum in Paris, constructs models of her community for her to learn her way around. And his colleagues at the National Museum keep Marie-Laure's love for nature and curiosity alive. When Paris is threatened with invasion, Marie-Laure and her father set out to find refuge with great-uncle Etienne in Saint-Malo, her father entrusted with a very special diamond from the museum. It takes several years for the war to make its way to Saint-Malo, but it eventually does arrive. In part because of the big radio in the attic that Uncle Etienne uses to help the resistance.
Von Rumpel is the Nazi's gem specialist. When they invade Paris, he makes a visit to the National Museum and sets off on the trail of a very special gem legend says just might save his life.
Note: Click on the title to see full content notes.
Target Readers:
- WWII Fans/Thriller Fans/Those Who Want to Better Understand People with Disabilities/Excellent Writing Fans: This is an excellently written book, especially the way Doerr writes Marie-Laure's perspective. It isn't the high action thing most WWII books are, but it is powerful and moving.
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
When Alice Ascher is murdered, Hercule Poirot finds himself following alphabetical clues to solve the crime.
Note: Some violence.
Target Readers:
- Mystery Fans: Mystery is an enticing genre to teens at our school. And many of them are Agatha Christie fans after getting exposed via movies or freshman English. This is just one of the most popular of her titles. There’s something very approachable to modern teens about her writing.
Death Struck Year by Makiia Lucier
When the Spanish flu hits Cleo Berry’s city in Oregon in the fall of 1918, her brother and sister-in-law are down in San Francisco and their house keeper is visiting her family and Washington. The mayor has ordered the closing of all schools, and Cleo decides to return to her empty home rather than wait for her brother at boarding school. That night she sees an ad in the newspaper from the Red Cross asking for help, particularly those with cars and/or nursing backgrounds. Cleo doesn’t have a nursing degree. In fact, she can’t figure out what she’s going to do after graduation from high school in the spring, but she does have a car and her own past makes her eager to make sure there aren’t people out there suffering alone. So the next day she finds herself signed up with the Red Cross, armed with an armband, information brochures, gauze masks and a neighborhood to check. She goes door to door making sure everyone at home is fine, or if someone is sick that there are healthy people able to take care of them. As the days go by, the intensity of the situation helps her form fast friendships with others working to save whoever they can. She becomes good friends with another 17 year old volunteer, Kate, the motherly woman in charge of the nurses, Hannah, and a young medical student who was injured in the war, Edmund (and who has an annoying/endearing habit of trying to make sure Cleo is safe). Many volunteers barely make it through one day canvasing neighborhoods and working in the make-shift hospital. Cleo is definitely tempted to quit, but even when tragedy strikes close to home, she finds herself driven to help. And Hannah thinks Cleo may have found some future direction in the midst of this horrible pandemic.
Note: As accurate per the time period, several deaths.
Target Readers:
- Catastrophe Fans/Dystopia Fans/Thriller Fans/Light Romance Fans: Honestly, I think the cover takes most of the credit for the popularity of this title, but the dystopia-like historical setting helps, and a plucky heroine who is willing to help others regardless of the cost to herself is inspirational.
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Lina, her mother, and her younger brother Jonas are marched out of their home in Lithuania, and forced on a harrowing journey which eventually ends in Siberia. They spend countless days in horrible conditions on trains and in work camps. They are fighting to survive just because the Russians decided their family was anti-Soviet.
Note: Click on the title to see full content notes.
Target Readers:
- Thriller Fans/Salt to the Sea Fans: So I really should have shared Salt to the Sea here, but I’ve shared that a lot recently. It is very popular with many of our students. But this one also is thanks to Salt to the Sea. See, unbeknownst to many, this book is related. A very observant reader pointed out to me that in Salt to the Sea, Joanna talks about her cousin Lina in Lithunia and how she’s worried about what's happened to her. This is Lina’s story. So now I usually get students reading both titles one after the other. They've spread the word that the books are linked. Lina is an interesting character, because she doesn't seem the "normal" literary prisoner. Prisoners in concentration camp-type settings or dystopian books are usually inordinately brave (almost superhuman and super lucky) or inordinately submissive and hopeless. Lina is a curious limbo between anger and desire for action and restraint and fear because of the consequences of actions. In other words, she feels real. She relates how things are and mixes in memories of the past certain things bring up. Sepetys does a good job of portraying the horrors Lina's family faces, without glorying in the horrible or making the book awfully depressing. It is a delicate balance done wonderfully.
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