Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

We’re not going to talk about how long I’ve had Jennifer Nielsen’s A Night Divided checked out of the library.  It’s always sounded good–hence the constant renewing and re-checking-out–but only recently has my willingness to tackle books over 300 pages coincided with my being in the mood for an ‘escape from East Germany’ sort of story.  Once I started it, however, it sucked me right in.  Gerta’s father wants to leave East Berlin for West Germany and freedom; he and one of his sons go on a brief trip to look for an apartment and possible employment in August of 1961.

The Berlin Wall is erected before they can return.

Gerta, her mother, and her other brother are left in East Berlin, where their lack of freedom becomes intolerable to the young people.  When Gerta catches sight of her father on a platform on the other side of the wall, watching her and pretending to dig, she convinces her brother that tunneling under the wall is the only way to reunite their family.  Digging the tunnel while remaining undetected by the border police and the government, however, is an almost impossible task.  Nielsen does an incredibly job of portraying the strain, the hard work, and the danger involved; be prepared for a fair amount of reading-on-the-edge-of-your-seat.   Some aspects of the plot seem less likely than others, but overall, this is a compelling story with an extremely likable narrator.  I’m thinking middle school and up is the target audience here, but latter elementary students to whom the plot appeals should do just as well.  (And, hey, adults.  Because I certainly enjoyed it.)  Bottom line?  This is a fictional chance to experience relatively recent history (the Wall came down when I was 10).  Don’t miss it!