I met Mary Casanova in April of this year. She came to our county's Young Author celebration. She talked about this book, and I just had to get it. It is historical fiction set in Norway during WWII. Did you know Norway was occupied by Germany during the entire war? I didn't. This story follows a sister and a brother as they are separated from their parents because of the danger of the war and bombing in the cities and sent to live with their grandfather on a small island. I have read several books about WWII, studied it in school, watched documentaries on it, but I am continually amazed to find there is so much I don't know about it. I had no idea what the Norwegians went through and how brave they were to try and fight back. How their teachers protested when the Germans told them they had to teach the "Nazi" way and how the country suffered. War is always a hard thing to read about, but also amazing stories of love, selflessness, courage, and true devotion to a country you love come out in these stories also. So maybe there is some bring light in the huge shadow that war casts over people. War can bring out the worst in people, but it can also bring out the best.
