On one of the first teacher days back at school, my friend Kelly (also one of my LA teachers) came to me raving about the best book she read this summer....Between Shades of Gray (not that shades of gray!). As it so happened, I had checked this title out over the summer and had not yet had a chance to read it. So, on her recommendation, I pulled it out of the pile today and enjoyed some rays while reading.
On the night of June 14, 1941, 15-year-old Lina Vilkas, her mother Elena, and her younger brother Jonas are removed from their home in Lithuania by the Soviet secret police (NKVD) and deported to Siberia, for reasons Lina and Jonas don't know or understand. As difficult as it is, she tries to mask her hatred for the Soviets. The conditions are horrific, but Lina is determined to live, no matter what. Lina must also hide the drawings she has made, depicting their ordeals and the people in the camps, both Lithuanians and the Soviet guards, as she could be executed if they are found. Her art is how Lina hopes to communicate with others the truth of what happened to them in Siberia. But will her hope keep them alive long enough?
There have been very few books written about this time period, so it is not a part of history that I was overly familiar with. However, that makes me want to find out more about it, and more about the people who survived these horrors. The author, Ruta Sepetys, is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee who was fortunate enough to escape through Germany and into refugee camps. She wrote this story as a memorial to all those who perished, and for those who survived Stalin's Reign of Terror. This is a story that I would definitely recommend to anyone who is a lover of history!
Happy Reading!!
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