By Elana K. Arnold
Balzer + Bray, 2023. 390 pages. Young Adult
Set in 1939 Romania, Frederieke Teitler and her older sister, Astra, live in a house, in a city, in a world divided. Their father ran out on them when Rieke was only six, leaving their mother a wreck and their grandfather as their only stable family. He's done his best to provide for them and shield them from antisemitism, but now, seven years later, being a Jew has become increasingly dangerous. And when Astra falls in love and starts pulling away from her, Rieke wonders if there's anything in her life she can count on. Then-war breaks out in Europe. Almost overnight, Rieke and Astra's world changes, and every day becomes a struggle: to keep their grandfather's business, to keep their home, to keep their lives.
I appreciate that this novel highlights the effects of the Holocaust and WWII in an area outside of Germany. It’s a very thought-provoking and emotionally intense read as Rieke sees her neighbors gradually disappear, and starts to pick up on what’s happening around her and how her world has changed. At the same time, she’s dealing with her own physical changes as she’s going through adolescence, but her mother hasn’t provided any sort of guidance on what to expect or do for something as common as a period. Rieke feels like a realistic early teen girl, and I appreciate that authenticity.
If you liked The Blood Years, you might also like:
By Ruta Sepetys
Philomel Books, 2023. 319 pages. Young Adult
Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren't free to dream; they are bound by rules and force. Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He's left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves--or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe. Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?
By Monica Hesse
Little, Brown and Company, 2016. 301 pages. Young Adult
In 1943 Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, teenage Hanneke--a 'finder' of black market goods--is tasked with finding a Jewish girl a customer had been hiding, who has seemingly vanished into thin air, and is pulled into a web of resistance activities and secrets as she attempts to solve the mystery and save the missing girl.
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