Eyes On The Ice by Anna Rosner

Ten-year-old Lukas Burian, his twelve-year-old brother Denys, and six-year-old brother Alexander and their parents, Nadia and Josef live in a three room apartment at the top of a four storey building in Prague, Czechoslvakia. Lukas and his brothers sleep in the livingroom while his parents use the only bedroom. Lukas's father is a journalist who writes articles, all approved by the state, while his mother, who is expecting a baby soon, works in a nursery teaching music and art. Their Uncle Pavel also lives in Prague, sharing a four bedroom apartment with distant cousins. He was an mechanical engineer prior to the communist takeover and now drives a passenger train.

Lukas's best friend is Andrej Svoboda who lives with his parents, Rudy and Marta . Both Rudy and Josef write for the state-approved newspaper but both are strongly anti-Communist. Lukas's father gets the banned American newspaper from a street vendor. He hides the paper and an English dictionary under the bathroom sink. 

Lukas, Denys, Andrej and Alex all love hockey. Lukas's favourite player is Czech-born Stan Mikita, while Denys and Andrej like Gordie Howe. They love reading out- of-date copies of Hockey News. After dinner, Lukas and his brothers go to the outdoor rink to skate and practice their hockey skills. Andrey plays real hockey on a real team, getting up early for morning practice, before school. As a result, he doesn't come to the arena in the evenings. Uncle Pavel brings over hockey sticks one evening and their mother gives them a hockey puck. At the outdoor rink, Pavel tells their father, they are natural athletes. 

Once a week, Lukas and Denys have to attend a Young Pioneers meeting which indoctrinates them in Soviet propaganda. They have to attend every meeting otherwise this will be noticed. During the meetings, they chant slogans that Lukas recognizes as false. Lukas learns that his father is hiding things in their apartment when he us woken up by younger brother, Alex who is trying to hide a toy car. Lukas learns from Alex that their father has a secret hiding spot in the closet, behind a board in the floor but he decides not to check the closet because he doesn't want to know what his father might be hiding. 

At the outdoor rink, while Lukas and Denys are practicing, they are approached by a stranger named Novak, who invites them to train at a nearby indoor arena. They would be coached by a former player of the Czech national team. The two boys agree and on Saturday they meet Coach Peter who drills them on various skills.

At school one afternoon, Lukas is told to stay afterwards as Mr. Hajek wants to talk to him. As he's heading out of class, Andrej warns him not to tell Hajek anything. Lukas doesn't understand. While his classmate Ivan is in the room, Lukas overhears their conversation and learns that Hajek is interrogating him. When it's his turn, Lukas finds himself questioned as to whether his "father likes to write things and hide them away?". He reveals nothing to Hajek who tells him their conversation is secret and not to tell his parents. Later that night, Lukas asks Denys about being questioned and what their father might be hiding. 

Unable to get anything from the children, both Lukas and Andrej's families are targeted by the oko, or state secret police, who are determined to stop their fathers. As the situation evolves into one of life and death, Lukas's family must make the decision to risk everything for the chance at freedom.

Discussion

In Eyes On The Ice, Anna Rosner has crafted a realistic story that captures life in communist Czechoslovakia in the 1960's.

Czechoslovakia became a state in 1918 after declaring independence from Austria-Hungary. During World War II the country lost various portions to Nazi Germany, Hungary and Poland. After World War II, the state of Czechoslovakia was reformed. In 1948, a Soviet-backed coup established communist control of Czechoslovakia, that would last until 1989. Communism had begun to gain ground in the country after 1920, as the communists had a record of working with non-communists and opposing Nazi rule and being seen as one of the country's liberators, along with the Soviet Union, in World War II. Communism did not fulfill the expectations of citizens of Czechoslovakia: life was exceedingly repressive. 

People were not allowed to own properties or businesses: the latter were all confiscated and nationalized. Communists feared the intellectual elite because they could criticize and debate communist policies and ideology: they were not allowed to work in their field of expertise, arrested, imprisoned and purged. Opponents of the communist regime were imprisoned. Priests and monks were sent to labour camps where they were tortured and murdered, their churches and monasteries closed. Censorship was enforced. Rosner portrays much of this in her novel. 

For example, Lukas's Uncle Pavel, once owned his apartment prior to the Communist takeover but now lives in a crowded one. Once "...a mechanical engineer, designing motors for vehicles" he now drives a passenger train. Food is scarce: "Fruit is rationed and buying more than one kilogram is forbidden." To obtain four small oranges, Lukas's mother has to barter pens and paper. There are long lines for fruit and vegetables and Lukas and his brothers often stand in those lines for their elderly neighbours who are not able to do so. Lukas mentions in his narrative that "Most everything we own seems to be missing a part, mended or broken."

Children are indoctrinated by the state. The Young Pioneers group indoctrinates students in Soviet propaganda, something Lukas and his brother Denys are keenly aware of. Slogans like "Everyone is fed and cared for by the state." are known to be lies because Lukas has seen the overwhelming poverty in their country when he travelled to Poland with his father. 

Children are also weaponized by the communist state, to betray the very people who really love and care for them. When Lukas is interrogated by Mr. Hajek at school, he is told "Perhaps you can let me know if you see anything unusual in the houses. It's very important to keep your family safe...And let's not discuss this meeting with your parents." Later on, after Andrej's father is arrested, he is allowed to continue playing hockey only if he provides information on Lukas's father, Josef. When he doesn't follow through on this, he is removed from the team. This shows the overarching reach the Communist party has on almost every aspect of daily life. Intimidation results in absolute power over the people.

Both Lukas and Andrej's fathers work against the Communist regime: Andrej's father, Rudy writes the pamphlets and Lukas's father Josef, prints them. Anyone involved in such activities is brutally punished as both the Svoboda and Burian families are to learn. Andrej's father has been imprisoned at least once previously and the state agents continue to harass him and his family, frequently searching their apartment. He disappears soon after. Then the StB imprison Luka's father after searching their apartment. 

In an attempt to further manipulate and control the families of dissidents, the oko or state spies often involve them in questionable activities. Lukas, Denys and Andrej are approached by an oko and told if they want to help their fathers, they are to throw a game in an upcoming Soviet hockey tournament. While Andrej outright refuses, Lukas readily agrees. Andrej states, "If we do what he's asking, we'll become liars just like him." He explains that his father would die rather than aid the Communists and he won't help them either. For Lukas and Denys, they must question where their loyalty lies: to the state or to their father? Lukas knows he would do anything to save his father. Although Lukas plays terribly, despite trying his best and they lose the tournament game to the much larger Russian boys, Lukas's father returns home one week later.

Before the Burian family talk about what has happened, Josef searches their apartment thoroughly for listening devices, even taking apart the telephone. He reveals that he has been released for two weeks but must return to prison. Nadia wants to run but Josef tells her if they do, Rudy will be killed. It's only when they learn that Rudy has already died in prison that they plan to escape. Their dramatic escape by train is based on a real event that took place in 1951, when a four-car train was driven through a barrier, into West Germany. In her Author's Note at the back, Posner reveals that the train's emergency brake was disabled by the engineer, Jaroslav Konvalinka, who was also helped by three other men. 

Eyes On The Ice explores the themes of resistance, loyalty, and freedom. Josef and Rudy are actively working to resist the evil of Communism, even though it might mean imprisonment, torture, and ultimately cost them their lives. The novel shows the difficult choices citizens in Communist countries had to make: to resist what was a great evil or to comply to save self, family and friends. For Lukas, the question of whether to throw the hockey game is one of loyalty to his father and that means agreeing to play poorly. But to Andrej, loyalty to his father means to not acquiesce to the demands of the oko, even if it means the death of his beloved father. 

The author has included a Historical Note that offers some information on Communism in the Soviet Bloc, a map of Europe in 1963, and Discussion Questions. Author Anna Rosner drew on several sources to write her story including the personal anecdotes of someone who lived in Communist Prague, as well as those who lived in Soviet Russia. Eyes On The Ice is a timely novel that offers young readers the opportunity to learn about life under Communism. It's unfortunate that a more engaging book cover was not designed for this well written novel that would be of interest especially to boys.

Book Details:

Eyes On The Ice by Anna Posner
Toronto: Groundwood Books   2024
193 pp.

Dragonfly Eyes by Cao Wenxuan

Dragonfly Eyes is a story about a Chinese-French family and their life in Shanghai during the middle of the 20th century. At the heart of the story is the intergenerational relationship between the family's French grandmother Nainai and her granddaughter Ah Mei.

Nainai's husband and Ah Mei's grandfather was Du Meixi, who was the son of a wealthy Chinese silk merchant. The family's silk business was extensive extending into Europe. Du Meixi's father travelled throughout Europe establishing the European part of their silk business in Lyons, where he eventually settled. 

At twenty-five, Du Meixi, recently widowed, refused to join his father in Lyons to take charge of the family silk business. Instead, he became a sailor, signing on to a French steamer that sailed between Shanghai and Marseilles. Meanwhile Du Meixi's family in Shanghai continued to care for his son and daughter.

In 1925, during a stopover in Marseilles, Du Meixi met a lovely Frenchwoman named Oceane in a café. Seventeen days after meeting, they travelled to Lyons to meet his father.  When Du Meixi's father first met Oceane, he was astonished at the power she held over his son. He felt Oceane was his son's port. That night Du Meixi's father gave him two exquisite oval glass balls, called dragonfly eyes. He told Du Meixi to have them set in a necklace to give to her on their wedding day. Du Meixi handed in his notice to the steamer company and he and Oceane were married. This allowed Du Meixi's father to return to Shanghai to run the silk business while his son managed the European end from Lyons.

Du Meixi was called Yeye and he called Oceane, Nainai. Yeye and Nainai had four children: a son born in 1927, a second son in 1929, Ah Mei's father in 1931, and a girl in 1933. The children spoke French and Shanghainese. The family and the silk business prospered. Yeye and Nainai took their children often to visit family in Shanghai.

In 1937, the Japanese occupied Shanghai. As the world slipped closer to war, the Du family silk business in Europe collapsed. In China, the family silk business was also struggling to survive and Yeye's father was struggling physically and financially. Yeye decided he needed to return home, but at the insistence of Nainai, the entire family packed up and travelled to Shanghai. This decision would seal the family's fate in the coming years, as the Communists came to power in China and life changed in ways they could never have predicted.

Discussion

Dragonfly Eyes is a novel about the fictional Du family set first in France and then in China and covers the period from the 1920's to the 1960's. The novel focuses primarily on "the family life of Du Meixi, a Chinese man from Shanghai, and Oceane, a Frenchwoman from Marseilles, their four children and ten grandchildren, against the background of war and political upheaval, particularly in China." The novel immediately engages readers with the delightful and romanticized description of Du Meixi (Yeye) and Oceane (Nainai) meeting and their subsequent marriage. It then moves swiftly from their tranquil and prosperous life in France before World War II to their move to Shanghai, China and their difficult life under communism.

Wenxuan's narrative is a somewhat vague and dishonest presentation of life during the first decades immediately following the Communist revolution in China.  The novel lacks the rich historical context needed to give it depth and perspective. In the very brief Historical Note at the back, author Cao Wenxuan writes that "...the historical events are mentioned only lightly", meaning that there is only indirect mention of what is actually happening within Chinese society and therefore very little context to what the Du family is experiencing. Whenever events are mentioned, the description is brief with little explanation offered. Most authors of historical fiction, even for children's novels, strive to identify and inform readers about the political and social events occurring so readers can better relate to what is happening to the characters.

For Cao Wenxuan's Dragonfly Eyes, this connection is not easily made because young readers are not given the background information to do so. This lack of context is especially egregious because most Western readers have little knowledge of events like the Great Chinese Famine, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution or the Gang of Four. It's as if the author doesn't want to connect the devastating impact on the Du family to the failed policies of China's Communist government. These policies were used to entrench communism in China, quell any remaining resistance, and destroy China's rich cultural history and identity. The policies of Mao Zedong directly resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese citizens. 

In 1949, after the Communist takeover of China, the land of wealthy farmers and citizens was given to poorer farmers. To control the rural population who worked smaller farms and were continuing to practice their traditions, Mao began forcing them into collectives between 1949 and 1958. These collectives gradually increased in size, becoming very large. Private ownership was abolished in 1958 and everyone was forced into state-operated businesses. All religious institutions and ceremonies were banned, and replaced with political and propaganda meetings. In 1956, the hukou was re-introduced. This internal passport system restricted people from living in certain areas.

The Great Leap Forward was another policy developed by Mao Zedong to industrialize the country. This ran from 1958 to 1962 and saw the introduction of mandatory agricultural collectivization. The result was disastrous and led to the Great Chinese Famine which lasted from 1959 to 1961. The policies of the Great Leap Forward that were most responsible for the famine included the use of poor agricultural practices such as deep plowing and close planting, the poor distribution of food and the Four Pests Program. Food was appropriated by the state and stored to achieve quotas and for stockpiling. The result was not enough food left for the citizens and they starved. The Four Pests program saw the extermination of the Eurasian tree sparrow leading to an ecological imbalance that allowed insects such as locusts to thrive and devour the crops. It is estimated than between fifteen and fifty-five million people died in the famine, which was considered the worst man-made disaster.

The Cultural Revolution, launched in 1966 by Mao Zedong, had the intended goal of purging the country of any remaining capitalistic practices and of traditional Chinese culture. Mao believed that some were attempting to reinstate capitalism in the country, so he asked young people - the first crop of new communists - to rebel. They responded by forming the Red Guards, paramilitary groups made up of high school and university students. They were intent upon ridding the country of what were labelled the Four Olds": old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. To accomplish this, many cultural sites and historical artifacts were destroyed. The remnants of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, built during the Qing Dynasty and partially destroyed during the Second Opium war were badly vandalized. The Confucian Temple in Qufu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was ransacked, with many of its historical artifacts lost or destroyed. The destruction of religious sites and cultural art and antiquities resulted in a loss of religious and cultural identity for many Chinese. Schools and universities were closed and National College Entrance Examinations were cancelled. Seventeen million young people were sent to rural villages to learn from farmers.  Many ended up permanently exiled, losing their chance to continue their education. Intellectuals, scientists and scholars were killed or forced to commit suicide. The Cultural Revolution resulted in mass chaos and violence with between half a million to over two million deaths. 

Much of what happens in China does affect the Du family. Du Meixi gives up his family's silk business to the government because he is made to do so. Instead of running his business, he becomes an employee. As the family becomes impoverished, they begin selling off their possessions. The reasons are only vaguely explained and in some cases are somewhat misleading. For example in the chapter, The Piano, Wenxuan writes about the famine in China: "Shanghai had been so vibrant, but there was famine across the entire region now. The situation was serious.

In the sky above China, the sun, like a huge ball of fire, blazed furiously all day: trees were dying, crops were wilting, rivers were running dry...The sparrows that used to be everywhere disappeared, perhaps starved to death, or left with no choice but to fly off to the villages to look for food:..."  

Based on this description, the young reader might believe that the famine China was experiencing was the result of drought and that the sparrows simply couldn't find food. Although there were floods and a drought, these were considered insignificant in relation to previous droughts and floods.  As for the sparrows, they were eradicated, not "starved to death",  allowing insect pests to proliferate, destroying what crops remained.  As a result, the impact of government policies is lost in the storytelling. For example in Dragonfly Eyes, one of Ah Mei's classmates, Qui Qui faints due to lack of food.  Ah Mei's family and her classmates, including Qui Qui  are suffering not from some random event, but from a man-made catastrophe brought on directly as the result of government policies. But readers won't really know this because the author has not been faithful to the historical details.

This is just one of many events that occur throughout the story where the social situation is described but there is no context given, leaving the younger reader to wonder. The rise of the paramilitary Red Guards is another example. Wenxuan merely describes how suddenly young people have become loud, chanting and yelling, fighting one another in the streets. 

If the author felt that providing more historical information within the novel for his readers would add unnecessary detail, a more extensive Historical Note or Author's Note would have helped young readers understand the events described in the story. Although Wenxuan mentions the Cultural Revolution in his Historical Note, it is only to state that this changed how Oceane was perceived.  It is therefore recommended that readers who wish to understand some of the historical background to the events portrayed in Dragonfly Eyes, do some research on China's history. Also helpful would have been a map of China showing the relative placement of Beijing, Shanghai, and Yibin, and a map showing the relative placement of France and China.

 Although the novel concludes in 1968, when Ah Mei is fifteen-years-old,  we know that draconian communist policies did not end with the Cultural Revolution but grew even worse with the implementation of the One Child Policy in 1980, that saw an estimated three hundred forty million babies murdered or aborted. The policy has created a gender imbalance in China's population as well as fewer younger workers to support an aging population.  Ah Mei would have lived through this vicious policy had Wenxuan continued his saga.

Because the historical context is lacking, it may be difficult for young readers to understand why the Du family is singled out.  Ah Mei's cousin, Ah Lang looks like his French grandmother, with his brown hair and Western nose. Once a popular student who was considered handsome by many of his classmates, Ah Lang is tormented by his fellow students as the Red Guards create chaos in Chinese society. He becomes so ostracized that he takes to wearing a mask to hide his face and is eventually driven from school, To fit in, he voluntarily takes part in the "Down to the Countryside Movement" in which students were exiled to remote rural areas to learn from farmers. His letters seem to suggest that he is happy but Nainai believes this is not really the case.  

Especially heartbreaking are the attacks on Nainai and Yeye at the Blue House. As suspicion grows towards anyone the different or seen as representing the old bourgeois class, Nainai is singled out as a spy by the Red Guards. They attack the Blue House, vandalizing it and imprisoning both Nainai and Yeye. Nainai is sent to a brick yard to carry bricks and Yeye to a pig farm. Although Wenxuan isn't specific about their ages, except to say they are getting older, it is likely Nainai is at least sixty-years-old and Yeye much older than that. Their harassment by the Red Guards continues with another break-in that leads to act of heartbreaking destruction, robbery and an injury that ultimately costs Yeye his life. Wenxuan's description of the attack on Nainai's beloved apricot tree exposes the senseless violence the Red Guards used to intimidate those whom they felt were subverting the communist ideals they believed in. Even after Nainai returns to Shanghai after fleeing to the countryside for her own safety she is once again taken, this time to be paraded through the streets. Fortunately, that does not happen.

Wenxuan captures the love and devotion that exists between members of the Du family, especially towards their grandparents, Nainai and Yeye. When any difficulty befalls them, their children rush to help in any way they can. Because they treated everyone with fairness and respect, whether it was friends or employees, Nainai and Yeye are often repaid for their kindness when they are in dire need.

Dragonfly Eyes is a lengthy novel for readers aged nine and up. Although it lacks historical context, Cao Wenxuan's writing is lyrical and emotive, capturing both the intense emotions of this tragic period in China's history and the beauty of the countryside. The description of the area that Mrs. Song lives in, an island in the middle of a river with tall reeds is breathtaking."When the wind blew, the reeds rushed forward, a dark tide of green waves. At their feet, the water rushed too, a white tide of glistening crystals. In the distance there were boats moving on the water, their lamps twinkling in the dark, flickering as they passed behind the reeds..."

Overall, Dragonfly Eyes is a novel to be read mainly because it's one of the few pieces of historical fiction for younger readers that covers the early Communist regime in China and the devastating impact of Communist policies on it's people. Teachers and parents are recommended to supply historical information that will help in understanding what the fictional Du family experienced.

Book Details:

Dragonfly Eyes by Cao Wenxuan
Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press 2021
375 pp.

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

I Must Betray You is a chilling portrayal of life in communist Romania under the brutal regime of Nicolae Ceausescu just as the Soviet and Eastern Bloc are collapsing.

One gray October day in 1989, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu is called to the school office by Comrade Director of MF3 High School. Terrified, Cristian finds himself being blackmailed by an agent of the Securitate, Romania's feared secret police, into becoming a spy. The Secu tells Cristian he knows about his "impressive vintage stamp collection" and that he has sold a vintage Romanian stamp, accepted foreign currency from a foreigner and is therefore guilty of illegal trafficking. Cristian suspects that his best friend, Luca is the one who has informed on him.

Cristian's mother, Mioara, works as a maid to a U.S. diplomat, Nicholas Van Dorn. While waiting for his mother to finish work, Cristian met and became friendly with the diplomat's sixteen-year-old son, Dan: they talked and traded stamps which is illegal in Romania. The Secu, whom he calls "Paddle Hands", threatens Cristian with this knowledge and coerces him into spying for the Secu. Cristian is ordered to "continue to meet with the son of the American diplomat" and "will report details of the diplomat's home and family." He will become an informer, code named "OSCAR". In return, Cristian's grandfather, Bunu will receive medicine to treat his leukemia.

On his way home after meeting with the Secu agent, Cristian encounters Liliana Pavel, the girl he's been trying for days to "co-incidentally" meet after school. She lives in the same building as Cristian's best friend, Luca who has a reputation for being sweet. Liliana is smart, quiet and often goes off to read. As they walk home together, they meet "Starfish" a boy a few years older than Cristian who is involved in the black market. Starfish lost an eye and the thick stitches on his closed eye socket resembled a crooked star. Starfish invites them to his video night on Saturday. To Cristian's surprise, Liliana wants him to come with her.

Cristian, his twenty-year-old sister Cicilia (Cici) who works at a textile factory, his parents, Mioara and Gabriel and his grandfather, Bunu live in a cramped, fourth floor apartment in Bucharest, Romania. Cristian sleeps in the closet by the front door. He keeps a journal hidden under the blankets on the floor. Cristian got the idea for a journal after seeing the notebook that Dan Van Dorn keeps for his college admissions essay. Because people believe that listening devices are hidden everywhere, at home everyone speaks in whispers except for his grandfather, Bunu. They hide Kents - Western cigarettes which are used for bribery, trade or the black market.  On the balconies of the apartments, the "Reporters", women who spy on their neighbours, are ever watchful.

Cristian begins spying on the U.S. Diplomat's son, Dan Van Dorn. Cristian believes he can outwit the agent at his own game so he starts by noting things he believes the Secu agent might be interested in, such as the location of rooms and furniture, information that he believes is harmless. Cristian meets up with Dan Van Dorn again and makes mental notes about the apartment while Dan looks for stamps to trade with Cristian. Dan brings out a sheet block of four U.S. stamps of dinosaurs where one has been mislabelled. Dan tells Cristian that even the U.S. Postal service makes mistakes and points to the light fixture indicating that he knows it is bugged. At this point, Cristian realizes that Dan knows he is under surveillance. He also meets Dan's parents.

At a second meeting with the agent, Cristian tells him about the Van Dorn's apartment and is tasked with noting what's on the father's desk and also to accompany Dan to the American Library.  The next day Cristian and his family, like every other family in Bucharest, must stand in line for anything they want at the Alimentara, the grocery store. It is bitterly cold, and Cristian reflects on how each member of his family takes their turn in the lines.

But when Cristian visits Dan in his home again, he cannot help but notice the stark contrast to his own living conditions. It is warm like summer, there is a large colour TV, and a video player with head phones. The contrast is even more extreme when Cristian watches a home made video of Dan's friends and is stunned to see the inside of a large refrigerator stuffed with food from top to bottom. "All kinds of food. In bottles, cans, cartons, dividers, and drawers. So many colors and quantities. Of food...Fresh. Ripe. Just waiting to be eaten." Cristian realizes that the movie he's watched is of "...real people, in a real house in the West, with real food." When Cristian confronts his mother about what he's seen at the Van Dorn's, she becomes defensive and angry, telling him it's no use dreaming about things they can never have.

At school, after a classmate confesses to being an informer, Cristian realizes that everyone is informing on everyone. "The teacher must be an informer. He informed on the students. The school director was an informer. He informed on the teachers. The secretary was an informer. She informed on the school director. The school director was an informer. He informed on the teachers. The secretary was an informer. She informed on the school director. Luca was an informer. He informed on me. I was an informer. I informed on Americans." This realization makes Cristian wonder if Liliana is an informer. He believes that Liliana leaving school the day they first met up, might be a sign she was also meeting with a Secu. 

Meanwhile at home, Bunu works to repair their broken radio. As he and Cristian discuss communism and the Secu, Bunu reveals that he was paid a visit by someone and given "medicine" to help him and that this was because someone in their home is an informer. He also doesn't know what he was given, if it will help him or kill him. At this point, Cristian believes his grandfather knows he's an informer.

When Liliana and Cristian meet up in the darkened stairwell of his apartment building they discuss what happened in Cristian's class. They hear someone on the stairs and it turns out to be Cristian's mother. When they return to the stairwell, Liliana she wonders if the world knows what is going on in Romania and if they would help them.  Thinking about how they can listen to broadcasts from Radio Free Europe, Cristian considers sneaking his secret notebook to Mr. Van Dorn with a request to send it to Washington. He believes that Ceausescu has fooled the Americans into believing Romania is a successful country. 

At his next meeting with Dan, Mr. Van Dorn writes the word TIME on paper and tells Cristian to look for the most recent edition at the American Library. This leads Cristian to believe that he can share the truth about Romania with him. When Cristian reads TIME Magazine at the American Library, he is stunned to learn that their neighbour, Hungary is free and no longer communist. He knows he has to tell Bunu. As it turns out, Bunu already knows because he's repaired their radio. Listening to Radio Free Europe, Bunu believes East Germany will be next. 

The brutal murder of Bunu leads Cristian to secretly leave Van Dorn his notebook so he can let the world know what is happening in Romania. Cristian's mother tells him that Bunu's murder is a warning to the young people of Romania not to follow in the steps of the other communist countries. Soon freedom spreads throughout the Eastern Bloc, with the fall of communist regimes in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria.  When protests begin in Romania, at Maria Square in Timisoara, Western Romania, Cristian knows he has to act. He, along with Liliana, Luca and thousands of university students and residents of Budapest, begin protesting. Cristian is quickly drawn into the bloody uprising in Romania. But freedom will come with painful revelations and the loss of a beloved sister.

Discussion

Ruta Sepetys has crafted a brilliant historical fiction novel that effectively portrays the repressive regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu through the eyes of a teen character, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu. Interspersed in his narrative are the Informer Reports, detailing the activities of Cristian and those around him.

In 1945, the Communists came to power in Romania due to the occupation and intervention of the Soviet Union. Prior to this, there had been a struggle as to whether Romania would adopt Western style democracy or Soviet communism.Fro m 1945 until 1965, Soviet-style communism with its antagonistic approach to the West controlled Romania. In 1965, with the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Rej, Nicolae Ceausescu came to power as leader of Romania's Communist Party. He worked to move Romania away from the Soviet sphere of influence, ending its participation in the Warsaw Pact military alliance and condemning the Soviet Union's invasions of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Afghanistan in 1979. Unlike the Soviet Union and its Bloc countries, Ceausescu was not interested in shutting Romania off from the West: he was friendly towards the United States and signed trade agreements with the European Economic Community.

However this openness did not last. In 1974, Ceausescu became president of Romania but he also became increasingly authoritarian.  Romania had a much-feared secret police, called the Securitate and they began to develop a large network of informers. This caused much fear and division, as people never knew who to trust. It also made any form of resistance almost impossible. The Securitate was responsible for the torture and death of thousands of Romanians. 

Prior to the 1980's, Bucharest had been known as "the Little Paris of the East" for its cobbled streets, tree-lined boulevards, cafes, historic churches and monasteries, and many grand buildings. After the 1977 earthquake, Ceausescu was determined to remake the center of Bucharest into something more modern like what he had seen in North Korea. He demolished many parts of the city center including the Uranus district and levelled the Vacaresti Hill, the location of an ancient monastery. In place of these beautiful and historic buildings, Ceausescu built rows of concrete apartment blocks. He also built a huge, opulent palace while his own people did without the many necessities of life.

In the 1980's life in Romania became almost impossible. In debt to foreign banks, Ceausescu began exporting the country's agricultural and industrial products. As a result, people experienced shortages of food, fuel, medicine, clothing and other necessities. As glasnost and perestroika spread throughout the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, the Communist regimes began to fall throughout the Eastern Bloc. A demonstration in Timisoara, in which the Romania army fired on its own people, became the flashpoint for the revolution and fall of the Communist Romanian government and the trial and execution of the Ceausescus.

In I Must Betray You, Ruta Sepetys uses her characters to describe life under Romania's dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. Cristian and Liliana Pavel discuss how their beautiful city of Bucharest has been destroyed as they walk home together. Liliana remarks, "My father said that Bucharest used to be called 'Little Paris'. There were trees everywhere, lots of birds, and even Belle Epoque architecture." Cristian recalls that his Bunu once told him that "...Bucharest was once a luxury stop on the Orient Express."

Cristian then describes the reality of what life has become under the repressive regime: "Families, like our family of five, were herded into one-bedroom, ashtray-sized flats. I looked at the cement apartment blocks we passed. Some weren't even finished. They had no doors, no elevators, no stair railings. Similar concrete hulks loomed around the city, gray staircases to nowhere. Concrete walls gave birth to concrete faces."

Even worse than the destruction of beauty is the fear and paranoia of life in Romania during the Ceausescu dictatorship. Like everyone else, Cristian tries to pass unnoticed.  "I pretended to follow the rules. I kept things to myself, like my interest in poetry and philosophy. I pretended other things too...I pretended that studying English was a commitment to my country... Many things were illegal in Romania - including my thoughts and my notebook." However, he soon discovers that no one goes "unnoticed" by the Secu.

Life in Ceausescu's Romania is one where anyone might be an informer. People are blackmailed into becoming an informer on family and friends, hence the title of the novel. When Cristian is sent to meet the Securitate agent he nicknames "Paddle Hands", he is terrified and doesn't know what he might have done to be in this situation. "What had I done? The truth was, most Romanians broke the rules some way or another. There were so many to break. And so many to report that you had broken them."  He learns that somehow the agent knows about his vintage stamp trade with Dan Van Dorn and the dollar he has come to possess. This situation creates a sense of betrayal and paranoia in Cristian, who wonders, "The agent had a file. Who informed on me? I threw a quick glance over my shoulder into the shadows. Was I being followed?"

Cristian being forced into becoming an informer, leaves him deeply conflicted, filled with disgust at not being able to refuse. He doesn't want to be an informer, but does it in the hopes of getting medicine for his beloved Bunu. He must betray Dan, his new American friend. He tries to assuage his conscience by hoping that he can beat the Secu at his own game, but soon learns this is not the case. 

However, the Secu's forcing of Cristian into meeting with Dan has an unintended consequence: it offers him a window into what life is like in a free country like America. Watching a home-made video, Cristian is stunned by the amount of food in a family's refrigerator in America, how people interact freely with one another. He even notices how Mr. and Mrs. Van Dorn show natural affection for one another by their touches and looks, something he's never seen his parents do. He realizes that everything he's been told about America is a lie. 

Sepetys uses the character, Bunu, Cristian's grandfather, to explain how the Ceausescu regime has been able to control the Romanian people. Bunu tells his grandson, "...Ceausescu may be near illiterate, but even I can admit that he's a statesman and a mastermind...And think about it, Cristi, he starts with toddlers. The little ones are just four years old when they're indoctrinated....Four years old. it's cunning."

Bunu is the voice of  truth and courage, telling Cristian, "They steal our power by making us believe we don't have any...But words and creative phrases - they have power, Cristian. Explore that power in your mind." But he also reminds Cristian that the Securitate cannot control what he thinks. Bunu explains to Cristian how he can survive in such a repressive environment. "...You see, communism is a state of mind...The State controls the amount of food we eat, our electricity, our transportation, the information we receive. But with philosophy, we control our minds. What if the internal landscape was ours to build and paint?" 

Later on Bunu tells his son Gabriel, Cristian's father, "Mistrust is a form of terror. The regime pits us against one another. We can't join together in solidarity because we never know whom we can trust or who might be an informer....You see, even out here in the street, you're paranoid to be speaking with your own father! You've become a man without a voice. Mistrust. It's insidious. It causes multiple personality syndrome and rots relationships." 

The reader learns in the Epilogue that Bunu was informed on by his daughter-in-law, Cristian's mother, who hoped to save her two children. His voice of dissent had to be silenced and so he was poisoned by radioactive coffee and then beaten to death as the threat to the regime deepened. Bunu's brutal murder demonstrates how the Ceausescu regime tolerated no resistance, even that of an elderly, dying man. He was murdered because he was able to recognize and counter the lies of the state. 

I Must Betray You is a stunning novel, and a timely one. Romania's experience with Communism mirrored that of most other Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union: food and fuel shortages, rampant poverty, state police who tortured and murdered their own citizens, constant surveillance with almost no personal freedom. It is a reminder of the brutality and inhumanity of Communism at a time when some see it as an plausible alternative to the struggles Western democracies are currently experiencing. As Cristian writes in his notebook that is eventually published, "If communism is such a Paradise, why do we need barriers, walls, and laws to keep people from escaping?" Historical fiction can remind us of the lessons of the past, ones that must not be repeated.

The novel includes many historical, black and white photographs at the back, along with a detailed Author's Note and a Research and Sources section that explains the incredibly detailed research Sepetys undertook to write I Must Betray You. A map of Europe in 1989 opens the novel along with a dedication photograph of Romanian students in 1989. Sepetys's extensive research is evident in the believable characters she has crafted and her realistic portrayal of life in Romania in 1989. I Must Betray You is an absolute must-read!! As author Ruta Sepetys ends her Author's Note: "Together we can give history a voice." 

Book Details:

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
New York: Philomel Books        2022
319 pp.

Which Way Is Home by Maria Kiely

It is summer vacation, 1948 and life for eleven-year-old Anna is tainted by worries about life in her beloved Czechoslovakia. Her family including aunts, uncles and cousins have gathered at her grandparents' farm in Roven on the tenth anniversary of her grandfather's death. He was prime minister of Czechoslovakia before the Second World War. 

Before the war, Anna's father was a Czech diplomat in Paris. During World War II and the Nazi occupation, the Czech government went into exile in London, England. Anna's father became a spy in the Czech underground, communicating with the British, providing them with information on the location of Nazi weapons. 

After the war, the Communist Party pretended to support the Czech government. However, they wanted to be in power and eventually the Russian Communists formed a new government. They allowed Jan Masaryk, a supporter of democracy to remain in the new government. But when he died suddenly and the communists claimed Masaryk committed suicide many people believed he had been murdered. Anna's father had proof of this and he fled to France with the evidence, hoping to get help from the French to oust the communists. He has been gone for three months.

On the morning of the anniversary of their grandfather's death,  Anna's cousin Pavel who is visiting from Prague, is in the barn grooming the horses. Her other cousin, Maruska, whose family runs a hotel between the farm and Prague is also visiting.  Her older sister Ruzena is practicing a Chopin prelude in preparation for her first solo piano concert in Prague next month. 

The three children walk along the village road and into the forest, Pavel tells his cousins how he had to listen to the minister of education's propaganda on the radio. The minister told them their parents and teachers are enemies who want to stop the building or the communist state and that it is their duty to report them. They stop to say a prayer for the safety of Anna's father before they decide to pick mushrooms. 

On Sunday morning Anna and her family attend church. Afterwards former members of the Czech government in their formal military uniforms pay their respects to Anna's babicka and dedecek. It is a brave and dangerous act. Anna, Ruzena and Maruska along with Pavel tend to their grandfather's grave. Anna tells Pavel that she is frightened because she's been told that the Communists will send those who oppose them to prison.

Several days after the celebration, Anna's mother takes Ruzena to Prague to have a lesson with her piano teacher in preparation for her concert.  Pavel has already left for camp, and Maruska's mother Teta J has left to go back to work at their hotel. About a week later, while Anna and Maruska are getting ready for bed, Teta J arrives unexpectedly.  She tells Anna that she is to pack quickly as she will be going to visit Pavel at his camp. Maruska is terribly upset when she learns she won't be going along. Anna's babicka gives her a large cloth satchel full of food for the trip which puzzles Anna, but Anna is too excited to think more about this.

Teta J takes Anna to her hotel so she can return her car and then they travel to Prague. Instead of going to their home in Prague, they walk to the apartment of Anna's father's best friend, Dr. V. Inside the apartment is chaos, but Anna is surprised to see her mother and Ruzena. On her way to buy train tickets, Ruzena explains to a very shocked Anna that they are fleeing the country.  What will happen to her beloved Babicka, Teta J, Maruska and Pavel? Will she ever see Roven again? The journey to freedom proves to be one that is bittersweet.

Discussion

Which Way Is Home is a short, historical fiction novel based on the real live events experienced by the author's grandmother, mother and aunt as they escaped communist Czechoslovakia in 1948.  Kiely provides some background context in the novel for her young readers through the characters of Anna and Pavel. Readers learn that the communists have taken over the country and that Anna's father has had to flee because of his opposition to the communists and because he holds sensitive information about the death of Jan Masaryk. They also learn that people who do not support the communist regime are in danger, which is why Anna and her family must also flee. 

While young people reading this story in 1960 would probably know who Jan Masaryk was and what had happened in Czechoslovakia, a new generation of readers, over seventy years later, will not. This is where a short prologue might have been helpful, to set the stage for the events in the novel. The map, located at the back of the novel showing Anna's family's journey to freedom could have been placed following the prologue.

During World War II, Evard Benes led the Czechoslovakian government which was in exile in London. In 1945, with the end of the war, Benes returned to lead his country after the Soviet army withdrawal. In 1946, many communists were elected, forcing Benes to form a coalition government with these groups. At this time the U.S. was beginning to see the Soviets not as allies but as a threat to Europe. They wanted to rearm Germany as a deterrent to any Soviet actions, but the Czech government was opposed to this. When the U.S. cancelled a loan to the government, the communists were able to garner more votes in the next election. As the country experienced increasing economic issues and there were more protests, the communists were able to force other parties out of the coalition in early 1948. Rigged elections saw the communists take over the government. Benes resigned and Jan Marasyk, who had been his foreign minister died under questionable circumstances.

This is the situation in Czechoslovakia at the beginning of the novel. Life for Anna and her family on their estate called Roven is still happy and somewhat carefree despite the communist takeover. As her grandfather was prime minister prior to the war, Anna's family still enjoys considerable respect from many people. But increasingly, some like Mr. Z who acts in a threatening manner, are turning against those who supported the former democratic government. And the government is encouraging children to report family who do not support the communists, as Anna's cousin Pavel reveals.

Eventually Anna and her family decide to flee. Kiely effectively portrays the fears, difficulties and sacrifices refugees encounter in leaving a beloved homeland for an unknown destination. This is done in a way that is not overwhelming or too detailed for younger readers. The author sets the stage by painting the idyllic life that Anna and her cousins experience at Roven. The nearby forest is filled with "...the sweet and earthy scents of pine trees, moss and mushrooms...." There is the "...aroma of Babicka's delicious chicken soup..." and her use of their freshly picked mushrooms which she makes "into a delicious sauce over chicken and knedliky - her bread dumplings that are as soft and light as air." And of course Anna has her cousins Pavel and Maruska. But from this warm and loving home, Anna will leave behind everything familiar.

Kiely is able to portray just how vulnerable refugees are in a way that is non-threatening and thought-provoking. Anna, Ruzena and their mother are dependent on many people as they make their escape. They must trust people they do not know, including a guide who they later learn has led people to the Russians rather than to safety. Anna's family arrive in Germany with little money and no where to stay, ending up in a cold and damp houseboat, dependent on a refugee camp for food while they wait to make contact with Anna's father. 

They are very much dependent on the kindness and goodwill of those around them. And they do find kindness. Honza, a Boy Scout who unexpectedly becomes part of their group leaving the country, helps them as they walk to the border through "No Man's Land". He and Ruzena grow very close, but in the end go their separate ways. They are treated kindly by the American soldiers who drive them to the German border post. There is the kindness of a German shopkeeper who gives them butter for free as they purchase food with the little money they have. 

Anna and her family also reciprocate the acts of kindness. For example, when she and her family encounter two boys begging for food in the refugee camp, they contribute some of their food into the boys' bucket.  Anna expresses empathy for their situation, "I try to imagine what it must be like to have nowhere to go, and I almost cry with relief at the knowledge that Papa is coming for us."

The book takes it's title from the question Anna asks her older sister Ruzena after their first night in a hotel. When Ruzena points out the direction and tells her that they are never going back there, Anna begins to cry. It is a scene that emphasizes what many refugees feel; intense sadness, and a sense of loss. However, Which Way Is Home ends on a positive note with Anna's family being reunited. The author includes her own family's story in her Author's Note at the back.

This short, well-written novel is reminiscent of juvenile historical fiction written in the 1940s and 1950s by authors like Kate Seredy and Marie McSwigan. Highly recommended.

Book Details:

Which Way Is Home by Maria Kiely
New York: Nancy Paulsen Books     2020
179 pp.

My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson

The year is 1961 and thirteen-year-old Lora is determined to do her part in the Cuban revolution. Having ousted the U.S.-backed government of President Fulgencio Batista in 1959, the new government led by Fidel Castro has mandated that Cuba will become a fully literate nation. Everyone who can read and write is directed to teach those who cannot.

Lora is determined to enlist, after seeing a poster in her high school but she needs the signature of her father and he is opposed to her participation. However, with the help of her modern thinking abuela, eventually her father relents and signs the papers. So Lora sets out, leaving behind her stricken parents, her beloved abuela and her two younger brothers, Silvio and Roberto. After writing her exams, Lora and the other students from her school travel to the Varadero training camp. Arriving at Varadero Beach,formerly a resort for wealthy tourists, Lora is stunned by its beauty.

Lora is to become part of the new Conrado Benitez Brigade, named after a young black literacy teacher murdered in the Escambray Mountains. She, along with the thousands of other young people are put in luxurious hotel rooms set up as dorms. When she first arrives, Lora meets Marissa who was a university student in Havana. Besides learning how to teach literacy, Lora and the others are taught basic first aid, and given lectures on agriculture. They will be not only teaching but working alongside the farmers and their families too.

Lora's training is interrupted when the United States launches an invasion in the Bay of Pigs. Many of the teachers and other leaders leave to join the battle and Lora's father soon arrives to take her home. But Lora courageously refuses telling him it would be like a soldier deserting. Eventually the Bay of Pigs invasion is over. Lora finishes her training and receives her uniform and the equipment of a brigadista.

In April of 1961, Lora along with thirty other brigadistas take a bus south and then travel into the Escambray mountains in the back of a truck. They are dropped off in the middle of the forest where they meet up with Esteban their commander and his assistant Lillian, both accompanied by a soldier. Lora and the others, ten boys and twenty girls,are taken to their base camp. There they are divided into neighbourhood teams; Lora's team includes Juan and Maria. In their orientation, they are told to write their parents and keep a journal of their successes and failures.

Eventually Lora travels to meet her new family, Luis and Veronica Santana and their three children, Rafael, Emilia and Isabel. While Lora will be living with them, she will also attempt to teach the neighbouring Acosta family, comprised of an elderly couple and their son Daniel and his wife Nancy. At first the Acosta men are resistant to learning but Lora meets each challenge with grace and determination winning life long friends and succeeding in her mission.

Discussion

My Brigadista Year focuses on the beginning period of the Cuban revolution, and is told from the perspective of a fourteen-year-old girl, spanning the years from 1958 to 1961. It carefully skirts the abuses of the Cuban revolution while highlighting the camaraderie of the Cuban people newly freed from the brutal Batista regime.Ironically the same abuses and violence committed by rebels hoping to defeat Castro and that Lora expresses horror over will be used by Castro to cement his control over Cuba.

Young readers will not find My Brigadista Year to be a realistic representation of life under the communist government led by Fidel Castro. In her Author's Note at the back, Paterson admits that her novel "is by no means meant to be a full or balanced account of all events occurring in Cuba in the year 1961. Fidel Castro committed many evils against his enemies, some of whom originally fought on his side for freedom from Batista but felt betrayed by actions of the new government when small farms were seized and innocent families relocated or put in camps. From 1959 until his death, Castro presided over a repressive regime, jailing and executing political opponents and sometimes even those considered allies, and denying ordinary Cuban citizens freedoms we Americans take for granted."

However, few children will likely read the Author's Note nor is it likely that teachers will read it to students either. So young readers will be left with the impression that the Cuban revolution was a necessary and positive development for Cuba and that young people were eager to join the brigadistas.The revolution occurs without much context as the focus is on one teenage girl who is not witness to the many abuses that occurred. For example, Lora only briefly mentions the closing of all religious schools and the conversion of them into national secular schools.

Thus, Lora is a highly idealized character, keen to do her part.  Lora's courage and dedication to both her mission and the families she is serving are uplifting. She is genuinely concerned for the families and forms a life-long bond with them. Her time in the mountains, helps her to understand the poor and eventually leads her to become a doctor. But as Paterson notes, "...the literacy campaign was not entirely staffed by idealistic volunteers like Lora. I understand that some families felt the pressure of potential reprisal for non-cooperation, and therefore, some young people might well have felt forced to join the campaign. As the year went on and the goal remained distant, schools were closed and teachers were also conscripted."

As Paterson shows in My Brigadista Year, the program also functioned to indoctrinate illiterate, rural families in socialist and communist ideals. Reading material was mostly government propaganda and not classics or primers designed to simply teach reading and comprehension skills. For example, Lora mentions that the first image in the primer is of men connected to the OEA, the Organization of American States. The letters were to be used to not only teach vowels but also to explain how the United States was working to make sure "our revolution would fail."

Interestingly, My Brigadista Year subtly reveals Lora's biases. When Lora wanted to attend an expensive high school in Havana, she had to decide whether to keep her abuela's beautiful heirloom gold earrings or sell them to "some arrogant, rich North American tourist". While it's unfortunate that she would have had to sell such a family treasure in order to attend a good school, her view of  all tourists as arrogant seems, at the very least, unfair. Has Lora met many American tourists or is this just what she's been told? It may be that tourists to Cuba in the 1950's were arrogant but they also brought much needed money into the Cuban economy. And many people all over the world make extreme sacrifices far greater than selling a pair of earrings, to attend school.

The same can be said of Lora's view of nuns whom she seems to particularly dislike. In a flashback to her beginning high school Lora notes, "Many of the nuns who taught us had degrees from England and Europe.Our French maestra had a degree from the Sorbonne University, in Paris, and the Sister who taught English had graduated from Oxford University, in England. They were scholars, and, if I may say so, not as humble as you might imagine a nun to be." Lora describes the nuns clothing as "dressed head to toe in medieval habits."  Paterson employs a trope common in literature, that of the mean, heartless nun. In this novel, the messages are clear: rich people are arrogant and religious people are uncaring, old fashioned and lacking in humility. Perhaps in light of current events, these are today's "acceptable biases"?

My Brigadista Year interestingly does mention the prejudice that exists in Cuba and many countries regarding skin colour. Lora has a new friend, Norma whose dark skin indicates her possible African heritage. Lora notes that her mother likely would not approve of her dark-skinned friend and she is certain that Norma experienced prejudice from their classmates based on the colour of her skin. Lora herself experiences this prejudice when she returns home from her brigadista assignment and is deeply tanned, noting that her mother refrained from making any comments until much later.

Paterson's Epilogue, where Lora as an adult describes her life in very positive terms, encourages young readers not to judge her country. "My country is not perfect, but then is yours?" The question seems to suggest that communism is simply another form of government with good and bad points. But is it? History from the 20th century shows that this has not been the experience of anyone living under communist rule.

Book Details:

My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson
Somerville, Mass.     2017
198 pp.

The House of One Thousand Eyes by Michelle Barker

It is 1983 and seventeen-year-old Lena Altmann lives in the Better Germany, in the borough of Lichtenberg,  East Berlin, with her Aunt Adelheid. Lena's parents died in a factory accident at the freight car factory in Magdegurg where they had lived, when she was fourteen. Before the accident Lena was a good student, earning recognition for Enthusiasm in Handicrafts. However, her life changed drastically after the accident: Lena had a mental breakdown and was sent to a hospital to recover. She never returned to school despite her dream of continuing her education and her desire to become a nurse or work with children. Instead, she now works as a night janitor at Stasi headquarters, a place Berliners refer to as the House of One Thousand Eyes.

As soon as anyone learns of Lena's job, the conversation always changes, as if "...she was a giant microphone, recording everything and then running back to headquarters with secret information about who was reading the wrong books or receiving packages from Western relatives."

On Sundays Lena visits her mother's brother, her Uncle Erich who lives in the neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg. On her latest visit to Uncle Erich, who is a writer and who has been in trouble before, he asks Lena if she still has the keys to his apartment and makes the strange remark that his freezer may need defrosting. Lena has a copy of every single book her Uncle Erich has written including his well known, Castles Underground. While visiting him, his neighbour, Steffi arrives to warn Erich that he's not safe, and that the State Security Service (Stasi) are coming. Although Uncle Erich brushes off Steffi's concerns he  gives her his notebooks for safekeeping, warning that she too will have to be careful.

After her visit, Lena wonders if her uncle is in trouble. Later that night, she sneaks out of the house and travels to his apartment. Hiding in the shadows she witnesses a flower van outside his apartment and a man who is not Erich leaning out of the window. Another van arrives and all of Erich's possessions, his typewriter, books, suitcases and notebooks are removed from the apartment. A man in a Lada is stationed outside, watching the apartment. Lena believes he's waiting for Erich to return home so she heads to the pub he frequents to warn him, but he isn't there and no one has seen him.

Lena returns home, sleeping in and forgetting to get meat at the shop the next morning. After helping her neighbours, Peter and Danika, on the project to beautify their apartment courtyard, Lena heads to work. Lena's partner at the Stasi compound on Normannenstrasse is Jutta, an older woman who asks every Monday about Lena's visit to her Uncle Erich. Lena and Jutta each have their own floors to clean. Lena dreads cleaning her floor because of Bruno Drechsler, who forces her to commit sex acts every night she works and whom she calls Herr Dreck which means filth.  In the morning after work, Lena and Jutta go to House 1 where they are able to get Western foods that are brought in just for the Stasi staff.

Lena decides to visit Uncle Erich's apartment only to discover it is now occupied by a strange man named Friedrich who insists he has lived there for the past five years. At first Lena believes her uncle has run away. However, Lena's thinking begins to change as she makes several discoveries. The first is the discovery that someone has searched through her bedroom, removing her hidden pictures of Uncle Erich. Then Lena unexpectedly encounters Steffi, who believes that Lena reported her uncle. She tells Lena, "There is no Erich anymore." and advises her that she shouldn't go looking for him or asking about him. At home Lena discovers Erich's books, hidden under her mattress are also gone.  When she tells her aunt, Lena is told she doesn't have an uncle and that there were no books under her mattress. Her aunt tells her she must accept that he has gone.

Lena's efforts to prove to herself that her Uncle Erich did exist prove fruitless. At the library there are no copies of his books. However when she finds a picture of Marilyn Monroe that Uncle Erich let her cut from his magazine,  in her sweater pocket, Lena knows he did exist and her self-doubt vanishes. From this point on Lena is determined to learn what has happened to her beloved Uncle Erich. It is a journey that will lead her to take risks that are so dangerous she is re-committed to the asylum. But along the way, Lena discovers an inner strength that allows her to face her abuser, and help another person escape to West Germany.

Discussion

The House of One Thousand Eyes, its title a reference to the nickname given to the headquarters of the Stasi, paints a picture of life under the repressive communist government in East Berlin. The city of Berlin, capital of Germany was divided into two (initially four zones immediately after the war) after the fall of Germany during World War II. West Berlin which was controlled by the Allies eventually became part of the Federal Republic of Germany while East Berlin which had been under Soviet control became part of the German Democratic Republic or East Germany. This was in spite of the fact that the city of Berlin lay within East Germany. In 1961 the Berlin Wall, called the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart by the leaders of communist East Germany, was constructed within hours, to stop the drain of young, educated Germans, especially professionals and skilled workers, to West Berlin and to the FRG.

Closed off from the West, life in East Berlin became increasingly intolerable: the people in the city were expected to follow all the communist party rules and they were often spied on by their fellow citizens. Cameras and hidden microphones were also used spy on people. Anyone copying Western trends in fashion, music or culture was deemed subversive.  The Stasi kept file cards on millions of East Germans. Despite the barbed wire, guards, concrete walls and soldiers guarding the Berlin Wall, many still tried to escape to the West.

The communist world of East Berlin provides the setting for the story told in  The House of One Thousand Eyes. Lena Altmann is recovering from a mental breakdown after the death of her parents in an industrial accident.  Now living with her aunt who has connections in the communist party, Lena is employed as a cleaner at the Stasi headquarters. Lena doesn't much like her aunt but she does love her aunt's brother, her Uncle Erich who is a writer and who has worked in the mines and who shares her love of Western culture and "yeah, yeah, yeah music". When Uncle Erich disappears, Lena believes he has been taken away and she becomes determined to learn his fate.

His disappearance seems to awaken Lena from the stupor she has experienced since the death of her parents. To protect herself and to help her cope with her loss, Lena had built a wall in her mind, but this wall was making it difficult for her to recognize reality. When she had been in the hospital she had to built this wall, by co-operating with the doctors as Uncle Erich had secretly advised her, so she would be discharged. Lena had put a part of herself to sleep, "And that part had slept so well it had forgotten to wake up -- until last week." 

Although Lena has been told by her aunt that she is "simple", her actions show that she is anything but. Just as her Uncle Erich incorporated "another story underneath, humming like a machine" into his surface story when he wrote, Lena, in her bedroom, hides the pictures she really wants beneath pictures deemed acceptable by the communist government. So Uncle Erich's picture hides beneath that of Erich Honecker, the General Secretary and Comrade General Erich Mielke, head of the Stasi.

Lena's awakening leads her to quickly realize that she has been tricked into being an informer on her Uncle Erich -  a thought that sickens her. The discovery of the bug in the table in the ashtray room, the fact that Lena had been hired to work at the Stasi headquarters despite having a subversive relative, the questions by Jutta about Erich and the fact that she had been allowed to continue visiting her uncle, are all proof of this. This emboldens her to use this knowledge to her advantage. She remembers her uncle's strange remark about his freezer needing defrosting and boldly enters his apartment at great risk to retrieve whatever is hidden there.

One risk leads to another, a phone call from the Stasi office to a West German agent leads to more horrific abuse by Herr Dreck. Lena meets with Herr Gunter Schulmann and agrees to try to uncover what her Uncle had discovered and why the factory her parents were working in was making ammunition in secret.  Lena's courage transforms her into a person of action, willingly to take big risks to uncover the truth about her life in East Berlin and to help a friend escape. However, in the end, the Stasi machine with its death grip on life in the city proves too much and Lena finds herself entangled.

Barker manages to portray many of the evils of socialism in her novel in particular the lack of freedom of speech and of association. These freedoms are so restricted that Lena is even afraid of her own thoughts, building a wall to keep out those inner "subversive" thoughts. Readers can see how living in such a totalitarian environment might make someone afraid of their thoughts, given how the state punishes those who are "subversive". As Lena becomes more aware of her surroundings, she begins to re-evaluate people who appear to be normal, like the blind man in the train station, who she now doubts is truly blind. She finds herself questioning everything she sees and hears. 

The author captures the extensive propaganda that East German citizens were subjected to by the state as well. This is especially evident in the conversation between Gunter Schulmann and Lena when they meet for the first time. For example, Lena believes her country is a peaceful one, only to learn from Herr Schulmann that they are building weapons.

Although there have been several historical fiction novels about the Berlin Wall and life in East Berlin for young adults, The House of One Thousand Eyes manages to accurately portray life in East Berlin. However, this novel does contain several brief descriptions of sexual abuse and oral sex that will be disturbing to young teens. It is uncertain as to why the author included the issue of sexual abuse in a novel that has many, many other themes to explore. Perhaps this kind of abuse was a common tool used by the Stasi although research shows that it was more the mind games they played on their own citizens that was most successful. At any rate, for this reason, this book is not recommended for young teens.

Book Details:

The House of One Thousand Eyes by Michelle Barker
Toronto: Annick Press   2018
340 pp.

Too Young to Escape by Van Ho and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

On May 19, 1981, four-year-old Van Ho awakens to find her mother, sisters gone, not unusual because they often left for work early. However, Van's six-year-old brother Tuan is also not at home and that is unusual. Only Van and her grandmother, Ba Ngoai still remain sleeping on the third floor of Van's aunt's house in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Most of Van's relatives lost their businesses and homes in the communist takeover. Di and Bac took Van's family in after the Vietnam war ended and the communists took over. Van's father and her oldest sister Linh left a year earlier. Her father who was a translator for the Americans in Vietnam, was considered an enemy of the state and in great danger. So he fled taking Linh with him.

Di and Bac made their living by bartering on the street, making and selling rice sacks from their home. It was Van's responsibility to spin enough yarn every morning so that the weaver could make the fabric for the sacks. After finishing the spinning, Van's other chores before school included wiping down the dust from the spinning that coated the furniture.

At school Van notices that her sisters and brother are not in their respective lines for their classes. All through the day she wonders where her family has gone. When Van returns home that afternoon, Ba Ngoai reveals that her mother, sisters and brother have gone to be with Ba and Linh in Canada. Van is so shocked she refuses to believe Ba Ngoai at first and then wonders why she's been left behind.
"Why would Ma disappear without even saying good-bye? And why did she leave me? Maybe I had been a bad girl, and this was my punishment. But what had I done? I hadn't meant to be bad."

Van's aunt and grandmother attempt to assure her she is loved and a good daughter. They explain to her that the journey to escape Vietnam meant taking a boat and was extremely dangerous, especially for a child as young as Van. So she was left behind, with the hope that she and Ba Ngoai will someday also leave for Canada.

When the new school year begins in September, Van becomes friends with a new girl at her school named Trang. From her clothing it is obvious that Trang is very poor. But Van too is poor and unable to afford new clothing that she desperately needs. She is also bullied by Chie'n, who is the son of the local policeman. It is not long before Van and Ba Ngoai begin receiving boxes from Canada. Van's parents send them chocolates, new clothing and money. However, they must be careful not to draw the attention of the military police.

Although she dearly misses her family, Van learns to appreciate what she has; the love of her grandmother and aunt and uncle and her best friend Trang. And then one day, the time she has been waiting for arrives: Van and Ba Ngoai receive air line tickets to Toronto and special papers to enter Canada. For Van it is a time of both happiness at soon seeing her family she can hardly remember and sadness at leaving her best friend Trang and all that she has ever known.

Discussion

Many parents and grandparents of children reading this book will remember the large number of refugees from the communist regime of Vietnam in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Too Young To Escape is based on the true story of a Vietnamese family who came to Canada  during the 1980's. This children's novel grew out of an earlier book authored by Skrypuch, Adrift At Sea which told about Van's brother Tuan and his escape from Vietnam. As Skrypuch mentions in her Author's Note at the back, she would often get questions at school presentation of Adrift At Sea about what happened to Van. Did she ever make it to Canada? So Skrypuch approached Van Ho and asked her to consider telling her story. Together they worked on telling Van's story, as she attempted to recall as much as possible of this period of her life. Skrypuch mentions that many of Van's extended family lived with her aunt and uncle during this trying time. To avoid cluttering Van's story with too many secondary characters, these people were left out of the narrative, making it simpler for young readers. But the essence of the story remained, with a few details filled in.

Readers will be impressed by Van Ho's respectful kindness towards her Ba Ngoai and her obedience to her aunt and uncle who, at great risk, have taken in many family members. Van's fortitude in dealing with being left behind, and making the best of her situation are evident in her story.  But the authors also show that it was difficult for Van to come to terms with being left behind. This was especially evident when photographs began arrived from Canada of her family, happy and well settled.
"A photograph fell out of the envelope...It was a picture of my whole family -- except for me. Ma had a huge grin on her face, and she stood beside a man who had to be Ba. Lined up in front of them were Tuan, Lan, and Loan. An older girl was with them too. She had to be my oldest sister Linh. They were all smiling.
The photograph made me happy and angry all at once. I was relieved that my whole family was safe. But why did they look so pleased? Didn't they miss me? Did they even thing about me at all?.."
Van's narrative shows how difficult it became for her to eventually leave her homeland, but that this was overshadowed by her happiness at being reunited with her family.

Refugees boarding a small boat to escape Vietnam.

Within weeks of the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, Canada began accepting refugees. During the years of 1975 and 1976, Canada accepted 6,500 refugees. Meanwhile in Vietnam, the communists punished the South Vietnamese who had fought with the Americans against them. As Van's grandmother relates in Too Young To Escape, the communists stripped the South Vietnamese of their homes, businesses and property. They lost their jobs and were unable to attend university. Many former military and government officials were sent to "re-education camps" which were really prisons. As a result of this and the strained relationships between Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and China, many Vietnamese decided to flee the country. But there were refugees from other countries in southeast Asia as well.

According to the online Canadian Encyclopedia entry,"Over 1 million people departed Vietnam aboard unseaworthy makeshift vessels, hoping to reach international waters and be rescued there. But first they had to face huge risks — drowning, hunger, dehydration, attacks by pirates, sexual assaults and even murder. Some of the refugees who survived all these perils were then stuck for months in crowded refugee camps in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, while others remained confined to their vessels because no country would allow them to land." This led to the refugees being called "boat people", a term generally not used today.

At this time Canadian immigration had no category for refugees. However the new Immigration Act passed in 1976 established a new category of immigrants for refugees, allowing people to enter the country based on criteria that identified them as refugees and also allowed private Canadian citizens to sponsor refugees. By April 1980 Canada accepted 60,000 Indochina refugees and throughout the 1980's Canada would accept over 200,000 refugees from Southeast Asia.The vast majority of these refugees went on to become hard-working Canadians contributing to many sectors of Canadian society.

Those wishing to understand the backstory behind the events described in Too Young To Escape are encouraged to read the Canadian Encyclopedia entry "Canadian Response to the 'Boat People" Refugee Crisis"

The Canadian Museum of History also has some excellent resources on Vietnam, the Vietnam War and the Vietnamese Refugees.

Too Young To Escape is another excellent, well-written book by Canadian Ukrainian author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch that brings to light recent history in a meaningful way for young Canadians. Readers will enjoy the short interviews with Van's mother and father and the colour family photo album at the back. A must-have book for schools, homeschoolers and anyone interested in portraying Canadian history in an engaging personal manner.

Book Details:
Too Young To Escape: A Vietnamese Girl Waits to be Reunited with Her Family by Van Ho and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Toronto: Pajama Press   2018
142 pp.

Suspect Red by L. M. Elliot

Set in Washington, D.C. during the Cold War, Suspect Red captures the paranoia and fear as politicans and the FBI are determined to hunt down potential Communists and subversives.

Fourteen-year-old Richard Bradley lives in a suburb of Washington with his nine-year-old sister Virginia (Ginny), his mother Abigail, and his father Don who is an FBI agent. Richard's father is a World War II veteran who served in the Air Corps as a rear gunner. Years later, he's still nervous around loud sounds and has trouble controlling his anger.

Richard will be starting high school and like any teen he's interested in reading books such as Robin Hood. However, everything and anything that even hints of socialism is purged. And this includes Robin Hood. He manages to read other banned books like Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and John Steinbecks Red Pony, both of which have authors who are considered "Red subversives".  Richard has also been reading Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, but it is hidden from his mother.

Their Washington neighbourhood has many important people including Vice-President Richard Nixon. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI. In August, 1953, a new family, the Whites move into their neighborhood.  Richard and his mother take a meatloaf over as they welcome the Whites who are from Czechoslovakia. Teresa White tells Richard and his mother that they were lucky to escape Prague before the arrival of the Nazis and only because she had the good luck to be married to a member of the American diplomatic corps. They fled to London where they experienced the terror of the Blitz and then after the war travelled to New York. Teresa invites Richard to go upstairs to meet  her son Vladimir. As he passes through the house Richard cannot help but notice the unusual artwork and the amazing collection of books; The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, Animal Farm by George Orwell and many others. As it turns out, Vladimir shares Richard's love of reading. However, Vladimir is much more cosmopolitan that Richard, having travelled more and having an interest in jazz.

In September of 1953 Richard and Vladimir who attend Wilson High School, take the city bus together and also eat lunch together. Richard has spent time showing Vladimir the sights of Washington, their favourite being the Museum of Natural History. Vladimir continues to lend Richard books, many of which are banned and he introduces him to the world of jazz including Thelonius Monk, trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist Charlie Parker. Richard and his family attend McCarthy's wedding. The girl Richard's been crushing on since third grade, Dottie Anne Glover is also there but she's interested in Richard introducing her to his friend Vladimir. Angry at her father for not allowing her to join cheerleading, Dottie wants to go on a date with Vladimir who she believes is a "Red" as a way of revenge.

As his friendship with Vladimir continues to grow Richard's world is broadened by his experiences with the White family. He travels to New York where he is introduced to the artist and writer friends of Teresa - many of whom are considered questionable by McCarthy. Richard, although friends with Vladimir is also careful to note anything unusual. When Teresa is seen receiving a package from a strange man, Richard is both excited and worried. Based on the other things he's seen at the White home, he suspects Teresa might involved in something important and he decides to tell his father. But in doing so, Richard may be doing more harm than good, while betraying the only good friend he has.

Discussion

In Suspect Red, Elliot tackles the 1950's, a difficult era to portray in historical fiction. Veterans had returned home, hoping to settle down to a life of peace but the world was anything but peaceful. America and the communist Soviet Union had emerged from the war as the world's two new super powers. Their military might depended on developing more sophisticated atomic weapons. To that end, America found itself in an arms race with the Soviet Union each trying to build bigger and more powerful bombs.In 1949, the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb. Meanwhile Communism was spreading across the globe. Countries occupied by the Soviets at the end of the war, such as Poland, the eastern part of Germany, Yugoslavia, Romania and Albania saw Communist puppet regimes set up against the will of the people. Communism was also spreading in Asia - China had overthrown the Imperial dynasty and became Communist in 1949. Korea was now embroiled in war with Communists from Korea and China fighting to overthrow the U.S. backed government there. As a result, Americans saw communism as a real threat to their country, the world and their way of life.

The fear of communism in America really began after the Russian revolution of 1917 and the end of World War I. The war brought about great changes in class and social order as well as many attempts to establish the rights of workers. The early 1920's saw strikes for better wages and working conditions. In the 1930's Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies which aimed to help the unemployed, youth, elderly and poor were seen as socialist leaning. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was formed in 1938 to ferret out anyone suspected of subversive, communist actions.

In 1947, the Truman government sought to help foreign countries who fought communism through financial aid. Many companies, universities and institutions as well as local governments developed loyalty programs to ensure only loyal Americans were hired. It was at this time that many actors, directors and screenwriters were investigated and brought before HUAC. Soviet spies were discovered within the government and even a scientist from the Manhattan Project.  In 1950, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested for selling American information on the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. They were tried, convicted and executed in 1953.

Senator Joseph McCarthy

All of this helped set the stage for Senator Joseph McCarthy's crusade to root out any subversive, communist or anti-American activities. He was convinced that the U.S. State Department was rife with Communist sympathizers.  Academics, writers, actors, musicians and really anyone was at risk of being investigated. Once reported, they appeared before the committee where "evidence' was often flimsy at best and often rewritten to suit the charges. Often these people lost their jobs, and were black-listed, thus preventing them from being employed in their professions. Even Einstein, Oppenheimer, and Linus Pauling were investigated. People were careful who they associated with and which organizations they belonged to. People who had joined Communist organizations in their youth or who had been invited to attend Communist functions but who had no real affiliation were considered suspect. The fear of subversive Communist ideas led to widespread paranoia and the banning of books and types of art.

Elliot effectively captures the paranoia of the McCarthy era through the characters of Richard Bradley and his family. At the beginning of the novel, Richard is enjoying reading Robin Hood until his mother tells him he can't read it and takes it from him. She tells Richard that the local librarians have made a list of banned books and Robin Hood is on it. "Because Robin Hood takes from the rich to give to the poor...That's a Communist concept." 

Richard whose father is an FBI agent wants to believe his father is a great G-man (Government man) but he learns from his mother that his father botched a very important case - the Judith Coplon case. Coplon was suspected of spying for the Russians and was put under FBI surveillance. Richard's father was one of the FBI agents assigned to follow Coplon but lost her for twenty minutes when she was planning to meet her Russian contact. Coplon went free and the situation was an embarrassment for the FBI and Hoover. Now Richard is "searching for proof that Don really was as good a G-man as he'd always believed his dad to be."  This leads to Richard being on the look out for anything suspicious and that leads him to suspect his friend Vladimir's mother. Viewed through the lens of paranoia, the White family appears on the surface to Richard at least support subversive ideas.

Richard finds the White's have many books by authors he has never heard of like Truman Capote, Ezra Pound, D.H. Lawrence and T.S. Eliot. He finds a copy of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, a Black author who portrays white people as racist. Vladimir's older sister, Natalia explains to Richard that a children's book, the winner of the 1952 Caledcott Medal for illustration is considered subversive because of one of its illustrations. She explains to Richard that this notion is ridiculous and that the illustrator's previous book, The Two Reds, is considered suspicious simply because of its title.  At her Christmas party, Teresa White expresses her disappointment at the State Department's decision to recall an exhibit of important American artists such as Georgia |O'Keefe and Edward Hopper from Czechoslovakia because it might be helping promote Communism.

On a visit to New York City with Vladimir and his family, watches Teresa meet a strange man and receive an envelope from him. She also meets Arthur Miller, the author of the play The Crucible, a controversial play whose theme of the Salem witch trials is a metaphor for the McCarthy hearings.

In the White home, Richard finds Czech newspapers, a map of Prague marked with red circles and arrows, a Life magazine with a picture of the AP bureau chief in Prague, William Oatis who was accused by the Czech government of spying for the US defaced with horns.

All of these little discoveries lead Richard to believe that the Whites might be involved in something sinister, so he reports everything to his father. However this leaves Richard feeling unsettled and guilty. He attempts to rationalize what he's done by telling himself that he has to be loyal to his dad first over his friend Vladimir and that "...he hadn't said anything bad about Vladimir. He'd simply passed on some interesting things he'd observed about people in Brooklyn Heights and Teresa's oddball friends." When he discovers that the White's home is being bugged, Richard realizes this has gone much farther than he anticipated. "Richard swallowed hard, fighting off vomit. He was weirdly elated and riddled with a horrible sense of responsibility at the same time. He knew there was something suspect abotu Teresa. But he liked her. And what had he done potentially to Natalia? To the brother who loved her so much, his best friend?"

The reality of what he's done sinks in when Richard learns from Vladimir what his mother has been doing all along - attempting to save the life of a cousin who has been sentenced to twenty years prison in Czechoslovakia on the testimony of William Oatis. However, the truth is too late for Vladimir and his family. Mr. White is suspended from his State Department job, pending a Loyalty Review Board hearing. He is considered a security risk because of Teresa who is friends with radical writers and artists. Although his suspension and review ends up not being due to what Richard told his father and what his father reported, Richard still feels deeply guilty for betraying his friend and his family. "...it was Richard's fault, for misinterpreting things, for making assumptions based on the bombast of powerful guys like McCarthy, for spreading gossip. For--how had Natalia put it?-- for not thinking for himself." 

Although his actions almost destroy his friendship with Richard the two boys do reconcile. But Vladimir has some advice for Richard, "It doesn't matter if you're liberal or conservative, man, just make your own decisions about what you believe." Vladimir also gives Richard a pin from Natalia with the reminder "that Robin Hood was his own man, with his own beliefs..." It is the quintessential lesson all teens must learn as they come of age as adults.

Writing a story set in the early 1950's was no doubt very challenging. Although told in second person, this novel is difficult to read when Richard oddly refers to his parents by their first names. However, Elliot does a great job in aiding her readers understanding of the 1950's era by including a great deal of historical information from this decade at the beginning of each chapter. This includes information numerous photographs on various topics and events related to the 1950s, including Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the Korea War, the Soviet Union's hydrogen bomb test, Lucille Ball, Edward R. Murrow, and the McCarthy hearings. These detailed clips help to set the story in Suspect Red within the broader context of the times. Elliot also includes a detailed Afterword and Bibliography.

Overall, Suspect Red is good novel that explores the early Cold War in a way that will be appealing to younger readers, while informing them on this fascinating time in America.

Image credit: https://www.biography.com/political-figures/joseph-mccarthy

Book Details:

Suspect Red by L.M. Elliot
New York: Disney Hyperion    2017
292 pp.