(Also available in paperback, Audiobook and Kindle formats)
This is the first summer we took off from homeschooling to really enjoy the summer break and time together. It also let my girls do what they love most -- read! They usually read an hour a day for our homeschooling, books that pertain to topics and lessons we are learning about. But, with the summer break, the girls were able to read all the books that caught their eye at the library and bookstore, as well as one they have been trying to make time for and that have been sitting on their bookshelves in their room. Not only was this a welcoming break for the girls, but it also let me catch up on my own personal reading. I have been adding books to a stack on my office desk that I have been looking to read for the past few months, and was hoping for some down time away from daily homeschooling with the girls to actually find time and energy to read them.
I ended up reading all ten books that were sitting on my desk in a month's time, and found myself looking for new books to check out. Thankfully, I had a few books arrive in the mail from publishers I work with for my blog, and they caught my eye, and have been providing enjoyable reading at the beach and at home lounging on the couch. One book I recently picked up and had a hard time putting down was "Someday We Will Fly" by Rachel DeWoskin. Here is more about this book, which is considered a YA novel, but will be well received by adults who like me, enjoy historical prose.
About the Book:
"From the author of Blind, a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story set during World War II in Shanghai, one of the only places Jews without visas could find refuge.
Warsaw, Poland. The year is 1940 and Lillia is fifteen when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father flees with Lillia and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas. There they struggle to make a life; they have no money, there is little work, no decent place to live, a culture that doesn't understand them. And always the worry about Alenka. How will she find them? Is she still alive?
Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment. Lillia finds an outlet for her artistic talent by making puppets, remembering the happy days in Warsaw when her family was circus performers. She attends school sporadically, makes friends with Wei, a Chinese boy, and finds work as a performer at a "gentlemen's club" without her father's knowledge.
But meanwhile the conflict grows more intense as the Americans declare war and the Japanese force the Americans in Shanghai into camps. More bombing, more death. Can they survive, caught in the crossfire?"
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I have to say, I was not familar with this part of the Holocaust history, as it was never taught in schools, nor discussed. But, as I started to read this book, it made more sense that there were so many Jewish families flying their homelands to find refuge in other parts of the world. Just like their hope for safety in a new country, this is being seen in today's events about immigrants trying to find refuge in America.
This books really does pull at your heartstrings as you read the story of Lillia, who is trying to help her family by looking out and helping to raise her little sister, Naomi, while also navigating her teen years. It isn't until Lillia stumbles upon an outlet for her artistic talent of making puppets, that she finds some solace in her life.
The author does an amazing job at painting a picture of war and how it affects a family s as a whole, as well as children, while also showing how finding an outlet like the arts, can help a child persevere even in dangerous and uncertain times. Like I said, once I started reading this book, I found it hard to put down. I wanted to see what would happen next and if Lillia and her family would make it through safely. Don't worry, I will not ruin the ending. What I will say, though, is that this YA coming of age novel is a real page turner, and worth checking out during the remaining weeks of summer. While it is probably not on your child's required summer reading lists, it definitely is a book worth checking out and passing around to family and friends to enjoy.
Disclosure: I was sent a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All views shared are mine and mine alone.
The summer is a great time to get caught up on reading, I have a few here that have been waiting for me to read.
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