In 1941, Lina and her family are torn from their Lithuanian home in the middle of the night. Separated from her father, Lina, her mother and brother are forced to travel by train in cruel conditions over 6,500 miles, from Lithuania to Siberia to the North Pole. Lina and the other prisoners are forced to work in appalling conditions in one of the coldest regions of the world. Despite the danger of what would happen if she were caught, Lina uses what little she can find to draw pictures of where they are and what they are doing in hopes that one day her father will find them. This is a brilliant story of love and survival that readers won't soon forget.
I, for one, am not very familiar with events that took place in the Baltic area during this time period so I was appalled to read about situations that were someones reality. The book spanned many years and switched between past and present telling. The comparison of the two made the present situation that much more horrifying. Therefore, I appreciated that the author added just a hint of romance to help brighten the tear-jerking events of the book. This is a must for middle and high school libraries and would be a perfect book to read during a history class. MS/HS- ESSENTIAL. Whitney, Library-Teacher.
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