Book Review – A Night Divided

A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Scholastic Gold line

I posted this review over a year ago. Since I’ve been very busy with the launch of Relentless Rebels, I decided to post this review again. This is a great book and I think it’s very appropriate right now.

As we watch everything that is happening in Ukraine it makes it easier to relate to this powerful book.

I highly recommend this book to all middle-grade readers and even young adult readers.

The main character, Gerta, is only eight years old at the beginning of the book but during the majority of the book she is twelve. Her older brother is eighteen.

The blurb below will tell you what A Night Divided is about.

 With the rise of the Berlin Wall, Gerta finds her family suddenly divided. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, yet she can’t help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city.

But one day on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance. Gerta concludes that her father wants her and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom?

I remember watching on television as the Berlin Wall was torn down by the citizens of East Berlin.

The entire world was excited that these people would finally have a chance at freedom and a better life!

This book takes place long before the wall comes down and it lets the reader see what daily life in a communist county is like.

Everyone should read this and appreciate our freedom.

There is no objectionable content in this book. No romance and the violence is only referred to.

This book is acceptable for all ages.