Between Shades of Gray

A few weeks ago I read Ruta Sepetys's second book Out of the Easy and absolutely loved it. So I told everyone how much. Then my book club picked her first book as its next read. I will start by saying how much I don't like to read sad books, or books about the Holocaust. I get even more annoyed when I realize how little I knew about this atrocity- the extermination of Lithuanians by the Russians during World War Two. This is the story of fifteen year old artist, Lina. She and her mother and brother are rounded up  and sent to Siberia because her father worked at the university. Her family is forced to survive horrific conditions to barely survive. Lina is determined to reunite with her father and tries to do it through her art, because he would know her paintings anywhere. The book describes what lengths a person will go to survive and the consequences if a person decides to give up. It shows how you can make a family of perfect strangers if the need arises. It gives hope that love can bloom even  under the worst of circumstances. I am constantly amazed by the brutality of war and the cheap price it puts on civilian lives. And now I wonder why this isn't as talked about as much as the Holocaust. As I get ready to read Anne Frank with my 8th graders, this is a book I will recommend to my students. It is heartbreaking and at the same time uplifting. Sepetys has a way of making her characters come alive and will be a force in YA literature for a long time to come. Between Shades of Gray is a beautifully written story that brings to light something that has too long stayed in the dark. Happy reading my friends!