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School Library Journal
Reviewed on November 1, 2016 | Young Adult
Gr 6–10—Ilse Stern, 15, is smitten with Hermann, the boy next door, in this historical novel set in Oslo. With World War II hovering in the background, life quickly spins out of control, pulling Ilse and Hermann in very different directions. As Ilse and her family confront growing anti-Semitic persecution, Hermann becomes increasingly secretive. Jewish families face pressure from police, discrimination in the work environment, displacement from their ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
Horn Book Magazine
Reviewed on January 1, 2017
Ilse Stern, a typical rebellious, lovelorn adolescent, lives with her Jewish family in 1942 Nazi-occupied Oslo, where her father, Isak, runs a tailor shop. A present-tense narration creates immediacy, while quotidian details provide connection ("she feels the warmth of the sun on her face and basks in the light, dust blowing up from the road and the leaves crackling beneath her feet as she wades through them"). But throughout everything runs an oppressive sense of dread--telegraphed through Kaurin's spare, tense prose--as we learn that Ilse's school has ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
