The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye

In this gentle story set in the city of Muscat in Oman, young Aref is preparing to leave for the United States with his mother. He doesn't want to leave his country, his city and his friends and resists packing his suitcase. To help accept moving away, his mother enlists the help of Aref's grandfather, Sidi.

The story opens with Aref and his mother accompanying his father as he waits to go through customs at the airport in Muscat. His father is travelling on ahead of them to Ann Arbor, Michigan where his parents plan to stay for three years to study. He will have to travel to Kuwait, Frankfurt, New York and then finally on to Ann Arbor, Michigan. It will be a fifteen hour journey! They will follow in a week's time, after his father has settled into their apartment. Aref's parents are professors at the university in Muscat.

When they return home, Aref continues to complain to him mother about moving to America. He worries he won't be able to play soccer there, that he won't have any friends. But his mother assures him that he will make new friends there and to view the next three years as a great adventure. She also reminds Aref, that unlike millions of refugees, he will be able to return to his home country of Oman, in three years time.

Aref and his parents live in a two-storey home in a very modern neighbourhood.Despite these assurances Aref is certain he will miss his school in Oman, despite his new school in Michigan having a space camp and International Night where students from different countries share their culture and food. His best friend, Diram, gives Aref a T-shirt with their photos on it, asking him not to forget him. Another friend, Sulima also arrives with a gift. Sulima had lived in the United States when she was younger and she also reassures Aref, reminding him that the zoos, roller coasters, trains and skating rinks are lots of fun.

Aref knows he will miss his family's house, and with his uncle's family moving into their home, he doesn't want his cousins, Hani and Shadi using his room. He tells his mother he doesn't like sharing. And he certainly will miss his grandfather, Sidi.

Recognizing Aref just might need some help from his grandfather, Aref's mother calls him to come visit. Aref and his grandfather had made many plans to do different things over the years such as go to Masirah Island and watch the kite surfing, or march around Al-Hazem Fort. But with Aref leaving in a week what will happen?

Aref is so reluctant to pack his suitcase that he even wonders if he doesn't pack maybe he won't have to go to the United States. He isn't even excited about the airplane either. But then Sidi arrives in his "clackety green jeep" that he calls Monsieur". When Sidi asks Aref how packing is going, Aref tells him he can't fit any good things like his friends, his schooll, the Mutrah Souq or the sea turtle beach into it. When Aref continues to struggle and is very unhappy, his mother arranges for Sidi to take him overnight.

Sidi decides to take Aref on a series of trips exploring some places they haven't been before. At each site, Aref learns something that helps him come to accept his move to America and to finally pack his suitcase.

Discussion

The Turtle of Oman is a short, middle school novel that explores the themes of dealing with change, moving to a new country, what it might be like to move to a strange, new country, and the grandfather-grandson relationship.

Young Aref doesn't want to leave his beautiful home in his beloved country of Oman. He worries he will miss so many things and that he will forget his country. He wonders at the beginning of the novel,
"What if he forgot everything he had already learned, by leaving? Three years of being gone were not short. Not short at all. Anything could happen."

It is Aref's grandfather, Sidi who helps him come to terms with having to move to America for three years. Aref doesn't want to go; he doesn't want to leave his home, his friends, his school and all the good things that his beautiful country of Oman has to offer. But as he travels with Sidi to various favourite places, Aref begins to see his move differently.

Sidi gives Aref a stone as a memento at each place they visit: for example, a flatstone which he draws a smile on and the brown stone with grey speckles from the first beach they visit, the strange orange speckled stone from a meteorite. He tells Aref to use the stones to help him think of the different places they have visited.

At the Night of A Thousand Stars camp, Aref discovers the possibility of hope. His grandfather tells Aref that they will be connected, that if necessary he will take a computer class at the library to learn how to use email. By staying connected, Aref will know what is going on in Muscat. He won't forget his home. Sidi has Aref run around the camp while he sits in a chair and watches. No matter where Aref runs, Sidi can still see him, allowing Aref to realize that distance will not separate them.

At the camp. Aref and Sidi unexpectedly encounter a falconer named Jamal the falconer and his falcon, Fil-Fil. When Aref is allowed to have the falcon sit on his arm and then launch him into the air, he admires the bird's freedom and his ability to return back to the falconer. This is a reminder to Aref, that his trip is a sign of freedom to explore more of the world by going to Michigan, and that he will eventually be returning home.

At the turtle beach, Aref and Sidi talk about the wonder of the turtles who must navigate many hazards to return to nest each year. Sidi tells Aref, "I know...It's one of the wonders of the world...They must have imprints inside their cells - turtle directions. No one has to tell them. It pulls them right in. And it pulls all of them back and back to the same beach for years." Aref realizes that  like the turtles, he has something inside him too, that will always draw him back home, that will lead him back to Muscat, Oman.

His travels with Sidi reassure Aref that he will not forget  his home country of Oman, that he will be free to return and that like the turtles, he has those memories written inside him. Sidi, by encouraging Aref during their travels, to pause and remember specific scenes, is also helping him to create those memories that will remain with him forever.

Aref's upcoming journey to America also forces him to re-evaluate how he thought about his fellow students from other countries at his school. His school has students from Denmark, Thailand, Mexico, Iraq, the United States, India and Scotland. Yet he's never wondered how they felt being in a strange country or if they were homesick. His own fear of leaving make him wonder why he never considered asking them. Later on in the novel, he experiences the same emotions and fears that his fellow international students might have experienced when he asks Sidi, "...what if I don't make any friends in the United States...I will be the new one now. I won't know the same things they know. What if no one likes me?..."

The Turtle of Oman is a sweet, gentle story about a young boy coming to terms with a big change in his life. It offers a perspective that young students in the United States and Canada can explore, as they encounter newcomers to their own countries. A second novel, The Turtles of Michigan was recently published.

Book Details:

The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye
New York: Greenwillow Books     2014
313 pp.

Harvey Takes The Lead by Colleen Nelson

Harvey, everyone's favourite West Highland Terrier returns for another adventure in Harvey Takes the Lead.

Brayside Retirement home has a new assistant director, Hilary Appleby. The nursing staff led by Mary Rose are not keen about this after hearing that she believes safety should be the number one concern. But Austin's grandpa believes Charlie always picks great staff.

When Maggie and Harvey arrive at Brayside for a regular visit, Ms. Appleby's strictness about safety is immediately apparent. Charlie introduces Harvey as the retirement home's "comfort dog" but Appleby asks if Harvey is "certified". 

As usual, Harvey spends his time visiting with the elderly, first in the games room and then visiting some residents in their suites. When it comes time to leave, Harvey is ready to go but sniffs out an interesting scent along the baseboards. He will have to investigate on his next visit!

Austin now has a puppy named Bertie. After taking her for a walk, they return home where he discovers Bertie has chewed up his math homework. Fortunately she didn't get to the Grade 7 Edu-Trek trip information package. Austin dearly wants to go but he needs a deposit of five hundred dollars by February 13. With his mother looking for work and recent car repairs, the money isn't there. At school, Mrs. Becker calls for students to hand in the Edu-Trek form. Austin tells his friend Amar Malik that he hasn't decided if he's going because he doesn't want to let his friend know that he doesn't have the money.

Then one day after school, Austin learns that Alice Kowalski has gone to the hospital with pneumonia. Alice and her husband, also a resident of Brayside, have been married for over sixty years, so this is devastating for Mr. Kowalski. While checking the to-do list in Isaac's office, Austin finds an envelope filled with money in his desk drawer. Although he's tempted to take it, Austin turns it in to Louise, one of the nurses.

Meanwhile Maggie has her own problems to deal with. She has decided to apply for a role in her school's play, Annie. But she's also worried about her once-best-friends, Lexi and Brianne. Fortunately there is one spot left and Maggie signs up. At home Harvey watches with great interest as Maggie practices for her audition.

When Maggie returns to Brayside, she learns that Ms. Appleby is serious about making some changes such has Maggie obtaining permission to bring Harvey on visits to the home. This upsets the residents of Brayside including Mrs. Fradette, Miss Lin and Mr. Singh. Somehow they need to convince Appleby that Harvey is an important part of Brayside and not a safety threat to its residents. 

Maggie also needs to sort out another problem - she didn't get the lead role in the play but is assigned as the understudy to all the main roles. Definitely not what she wanted. As Maggie works to learn all the major parts of the play, she also has to figure out what is really happening with her classmate Ndidi who has the part of Annie but doesn't seem invested in the play. As she reaches out to Ndidi, Maggie learns the truth about her situation and decides she needs to help.

As Austin struggles with the real possibility that he will not be able to go on his school trip, he works on encouraging Mr. Kowalski to not give up. To help the elderly man, Austin asks how he came to meet Alice and marry her. As Alice's condition worsens, Austin decides to create a playlist of the music the Kowalski's danced to so many years ago during the war. It is his care for Mr. Kowalski that ends up opening a door for his trip, and solving the problem of Hilary Appleby and her devotion to rules and regulations.

Discussion

Harvey Takes The Lead is the third book in the Harvey series and although Harvey has an important part in the story, the focus is more on the human characters, the problems they experience and how they help one another. 

The residents and staff of Brayside struggle to cope with a new, young assistant director at Brayside whose focus on keeping the elderly folk safe, turns out to be misplaced good intentions. The residents don't want to lose seeing Harvey and they want the freedom to have a Valentine's Dance. But Hilary Appleby's determination to enforce stricter rules forms the backdrop for the challenges both Austin and Maggie must sort out. 

For Maggie, the challenge is not only to come to terms with not getting the part she hoped for in the school play but also to discover the meaning of true friendship. Her former elementary school friends Lexi and Brianne complain about the absence of Ndidi who has the lead in the play, at practice. They spread rumours about Ndidi and urge Maggie to ask Ms. Alverez to replace Ndidi. However Maggie soon learns that Lexi is trying, once again, to manipulate her.  When she learns the truth about Ndidi's situation, Maggie has the courage to stand up to Lexi and offer Ndidi the support she needs to learn her part.  

For Austin, he desperately wants to sign up for the Edu-Trek trip but his mother simply doesn't have the money. After several unsuccessful attempts to find a way to earn the money, Austin accepts he's just not going to be able to go on the trip but he doesn't have the courage to tell his best friend Amar. Instead, Austin focuses on helping one of the Brayside residents whose wife becomes seriously ill. Austin tries to comfort and distract Mr. Kowalski by getting him to tell how he met his wife Alice. His story involves the popular big band music of the 1940's as well as standing up to his classmates and friends when they accuse Alice of being a Nazi spy simply because she has a German last name. When Alice's condition worsens, Austin is determined to help Mr. Kowalski. It is compassion and concern that catch the attention of his teacher and principal and ultimately a charitable organization which enables Austin to sign up for Edu-Trip.

Harvey Takes The Lead is truly a heart-warming and deeply touching novel. Readers are drawn into the story by the lovable, indomitable terrier, Harvey, who in this novel saves the day at Brayside by discovering the source of a mouse infestation. Nelson foreshadows this nicely with Harvey's detection of a different smell at Brayside that demands investigating! Her descriptions of Harvey and how he behaves are endearing and enjoyable.

But Harvey also has some wonderful humans around him. His owner, Maggie, is no longer the little girl she was four years ago. She is growing up. Maggie has learned it's important not to listen to gossip and form preconceived notions about other people. She begins to discover the meaning of true friendship and the value in helping others when she decides to help Ndidi learn her part while her mother is undergoing chemo. Maggie also begins to find herself drawn increasingly to Brayside. She decides to help the residents by organizing a performance of the Annie cast for the residents at their Valentine's Dance.

Austin  has discovered just how much his elderly friends at Brayside have to offer with their wealth of life experiences and stories. Because of his volunteer work at Brayside, he has developed into a caring, responsible young person who  has come to love and accept each of the residents. His decision not to steal the money he found in Isaac's desk demonstrates honesty and the ability to think about how his actions might affect others - an important part of growing up. He puts aside his own disappointment at not being able to sign up for the class trip, to work on helping Mr. Kowalski cope with his wife's illness. Coming to understand just how important music has been to the Kowalskis, he devises a last ditch attempt to help her recover. And in the end, his good deeds are recognized and rewarded.

This book is perhaps the most endearing of the Harvey novels and hopefully there will be a few more to come! Nelson recently added Rosie, a West Highland terrier to her own family! 

Book Details:

Harvey Takes The Lead by Colleen Nelson
Toronto: Pajama Press Inc.      2022
256 pp.

Lines of Courage by Jennifer A. Nielsen

In Lines of Courage, Nielsen weaves together the stories of five fictional characters from different countries to bring to life the events of World War I .

Felix Baum

Twelve-year-old Felix Baum lives in Lemberg in the Austria-Hungary empire with his mother and father. It is June 12, 1914, and Felix and his father have just left their train in Sarajevo to walk to their hotel. Nearby, they see Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the future emperor, accompanied by his wife. They are surrounded by a crowd of unhappy people.

Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia which was annexed in the Austria-Hungary empire six years earlier. However, Bosnia did not want this and neither did its neighbour, Serbia which hoped to establish its own empire. Felix's mother had warned them not to travel to Sarajevo, that a group of Serbian rebels called the Black Hand would be there. It seems his mother may have been correct.

Felix and his father watch as the Archduke and his wife travel by open limousine through the streets crowded with angry people. It is during the Archduke's trip through the streets of Sarajevo that Felix and his father witness the assassination of the Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Because of this they leave the city immediately.

At home in Lemberg, things are quiet. At a dinner party hosted by his parents, Felix meets eleven-year-old Elsa Dressler, the daughter of a German Major. She gives Felix a carrier pigeon, so they can correspond even though Felix isn't interested. Elsa tells him that war is coming because Germany has prepared for war with a modern army and that it wants war. This prospect worries Felix.

A month after the assassination, the world awaits Serbia's answer to the Kaiser's ten demands. When the deadline passes, war is declared by Austria on Serbia. Felix's papa is to report to Vienna for service. His papa tells him that Austria-Hungary will be fighting not only Russia, but France and Great Britain as well. 

Eventually the war comes to Lemberg, which is occupied by the Russians. Felix and his mother attempt to escape but are too late and are forced to host the Russians. Captain Garinov wants his mother to identify the Jews living in Lemberg so they can be deported to camps. Felix refuses to cooperate and is chained to a fence post. With the help of Elsa and her mother, they make a daring escape out of Lemberg to Vienna.

 

Kara Webb

In their small fishing town on the British coast, thirteen-year-old Kara Webb and her mother flee from the bombs being dropped by a German airship. It is January 19, 1915. Kara's mother is a nurse who has been helping tend to wounded soldiers being sent over from the battlefields in France and Belgium to local hospitals. Kara hopes one day to be a nurse.

Seeing people wounded from the bombing, Kara runs to help her mother treat them. When a woman mentions the Red Cross, Kara's mother reveals that she has been asked to join them but that she cannot leave her daughter. Later Kara learns that her mother has been asked to work on the ambulance trains in France. Kara not only wants her mother to accept but also wants to accompany her.

Kara and her mother arrive in France to work on an ambulance train. They meet Corporal Bryant, the orderly who explains that the train is comprised of sixteen cars and can hold up to five hundred wounded. Although not officially part of the Red Cross, Kara hopes by her work on the train, delivering food, reading letters to the soldiers and carrying messages from one ward to another she might earn her Red Cross pin. Captain Stout is encouraging to Kara, but he warns her to follow the rules and not to administer emergency care to the patients.

Then in June their ambulance train is ordered very close to the front. Kara is not allowed to help stretcher wounded back to the train but is forced to wait for them to arrive. However, when an orderly breaks his ankle, Kara is allowed to fill in and partner with Corporal Bryant until a shell severely injures Bryant. Kara's quick thinking saves Bryant when they are caught in a poison gas attack. 

At a Casualty Clearing Station in Northern France, Kara makes the decision to sneak aboard the train an injured Austro-Hungarian soldier, Sergeant Baum who is seriously wounded. For disobeying the rules, Kara is forced to give up her apron and stop helping on the train. She is devastated but certain she has done the right thing. Sergeant Baum survives and tells her about his son Felix who is determined to become a soldier because of how badly he was treated by a Russian soldier. In thanksgiving for saving his life, he gives her his Austria war medal.

 

In December of 1915, during a visit to the town of Verdun, France, Kara and her mother meet Juliette, a refugee from Lille who is selling jewelry to buy food. Kara worries for Juliette because the rumours are that the Germans are coming to the town, which is considered a key location. She pays for Juliette's red hat but returns the hat because she can see the girl will need it during the cold days ahead.

Juliette Caron

February, 1916 and Juliette Caron, her younger brothers Marcel and Claude and her mother quickly pack some belongings in preparation for evacuating Verdun. Juliette and her family have already fled from their home in Lille but now as the Germans gain more territory they must flee Verdun too. They  are taking valuables to sell in the hopes of bribing the Germans to release Papa from prison in Lille. 

Because they take so long to pack, Juliette's family find themselves alone on the road out of Verdun and soon encounter the arriving German soldiers. When they surround their wagon, Juliette flees into the woods to safeguard their money. She becomes separated from her family and is forced to hide overnight. She is found half frozen and unconscious by an orderly from the hospital train that stopped outside of Verdun.

On the train she is helped by Kara who tells her that there are refugee camps throughout France, with lists of people who are lost. This will help Juliette be reunited with her family. Juliette decides to leave the train in March and head to Lille to try to get her father out of prison. However, in Lille things do not go according to plan: she has her money stolen by Monique, a girl who has taken her in, and her attempt to bribe Major Dressler fails. She and Monique are also captured by the Germans, along with many other French girls and forced to work on a local farm.

With Monique's help, Juliette escapes the farm but is captured by Major Dressler in July. He tells her that he has met with her father in prison and they have become friends. Acting on a promise he made to her father, Dressler escorts Juliette across German lines into French territory where she is reunited with Kara and the hospital train. Juliette is allowed to stay on the train for two months, helping in the kitchen and laundry. Major Stout has reconsidered and reinstates Kara, designating her as a "nurse-in-training". At this time Juliette decides to leave the train and search for her family around Verdun. She hopes her mother may have found refuge in a nearby cave.

In the trenches outside Verdun, Juliette finds much needed food and supplies, left behind by the retreating Germans. A search of devastated Verdun doesn't turn up her family and she returns to the caves. But one day  in December, 1916, while looking for firewood, Juliette sees a wounded soldier wandering through a minefield. She manages to lead him to safety and takes him to the caves.

Dimitri Petrenko

Fourteen-year-old Dimitri and his friend Igor Zolin are fighting alongside French soldiers. They have no weapons and are ordered by Captain Garinov to go out into no-man's-land to get one from a dead soldier. But as they are out, crawling along the ground, the Germans attack. Dimitri is knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he wanders off into a minefield where he is helped by a girl. When he awakens he finds himself being cared for by Juliette in a cave.

The talk about their families and what the war has done to their lives. Dimitri decides he will return to his unit to continue to fight for freedom especially after what he has seen in Europe. When it comes time for him to leave, Juliette gives him a haversack and her red knit hat. He also discovers that she has given him the Austrian war medal.

Back in the trenches, reunited with his friend Igor, Dimitri and the other soldiers are ordered by Captain Garinov over the top. It is April 1917 and during this battle Igor is killed by a grenade. After the battle the Russian soldiers learn that the Tsar has abdicated and the revolution in Russia has begun. They refuse to fight and after a confrontation with the French Commandant LeBlanc, leave the war. Dimitri doesn't follow Garinov and the other soldiers as he supports the Tsar. However, he finds himself a prisoner of war when he is captured by the few German soldiers who survive the destruction of their trench.

Dimitri finds himself in a prison camp in Freiburg, Germany and after five months is sent to work on Major Dressler's home. It is November, 1917. At the Dressler home, Dimitri discovers his enemy, Captain Garinov is also a prisoner. When Garinov discovers Dimitri has an Austro-Hungarian medal, he tells Elsa that Dimitri has stolen it. Elsa tells him that the medal belongs to the father of a boy named Felix. Dimitri tells her that he was given the medal by a British girl on a hospital train. When Elsa tells her father what happened, instead of punishing Dimitri, he arranges for him to be driven to the French border and to safety. He tells Dimitri not to return to Russia because of the revolution but instead to go to Verdun, to Belleray where he will be able to get a job with an old friend of Dressler. In Belleray, Dimitri is hired to work at Dressler's friends market. And it is there that he meets the mother of a girl he knows is searching for her family.

Elsa Dressler

It is now April of 1918 and it's evident that Germany is losing the war. The people of Germany and starving and Elsa and her family are also struggling. Their neighbours are blaming her father who told them the war would bring glory to Germany.  They want a new government but the type of country they want, Major Dressler does not want to be a part of because they "...want a Germany of pure-blood Germans only..." While he is away, he tells Elsa they must focus on working in their garden so they will have the food they need.

At the market, Elsa spies Garinov, the Russian captain who ran off with their horse. Scared he might harm them, Elsa's mother writes to her father for direction. Meanwhile they receive a letter from Felix Baum asking to visit them in Freiburg. Conditions continue to deteriorate as Elsa and her family run out of food rations and are unable to sell any of their valuables to buy food. By November of 1918, Dressler writes to tell them that Germany is asking for peace. He also indicates that he will return home after he is released from the army and they will make plans to leave Germany. However, Major Dressler is attacked and seriously injured near Belleray by angry Germans. To help him, Elsa will need the help of many people.

 

Discussion

Lines of Courage attempts to portray the far-reaching effects of World War I on English, French, German and Russian civilians and soldiers through the stories of five teens. World War I had its beginnings with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungary throne, and his wife Sophie in September of 1914. The resulting war would draw in many countries in the world, beginning with Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and radiating out to their allies including Britain and its colonies, France, Germany, and Russia.

Nielsen breaks her story up based on her five fictional characters from these countries: Felix Baum from Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine), Kara Webb from England, Juliette Caron from Lille, France, Dimitri Petrenko from Russia and Elsa Dressler from Germany. Although they begin the war in very separate places, their paths crisscross, ultimately converging at the end of the novel. They are brought together by a series of circumstances, ultimately connected by deliberate acts of courage.

The line of courage is represented by the Golden Cross of Merit, Felix Baum's father attempts to give him at the beginning of the novel. However, Felix refuses his father's offer, telling him, "I won't accept what I haven't earned." So Sergeant Baum keeps it with him until his life is saved by the courageous action of Kara Webb who disobeys orders and loads the seriously wounded Baum onto the hospital train. This results in Kara losing her job of helping on the train. Baum recognizes the risks Kara took and gives her the medal. He tells her "...perhaps one day you can share this medal with someone else. I like to think that it will become part of a journey that inspires courage in others."

When Juliette Caron is rescued, nearly frozen, Kara helps her calm down and figure out what she needs to do next. To help her get her father out of prison in Lille, Kara gives her the Golden Cross of Merit to use as part of a bribe. This plan fails and after many events, Kara finds herself in the caves outside Verdun. It is there that she courageously rescues Russian, Dimitri Petrenko, who is wounded and not aware he is walking through a mine field. She has now earned the medal. But when Dimitri tells her he must return to the war so that he can earn a medal that will make a better life possible for his family in Russia, Juliette passes the medal onto Dimitri. The medal is then taken from Dimitri when he is a prisoner of war by Captain Garinov, who insists that Dimitri has stolen it. Once Major Dressler learns the truth about the medal, he accepts it from Dimitri whom he sets free as an act of kindness, recognizing that he is too young to be a soldier.

With the medal in his possession, Dressler returns to Lille to help free Juliette Caron's father as well as many of the other prisoners. However, with the war almost over, Elsa's father, Major Dressler is seriously wounded by fellow German soldiers. With the help of Elsa, Felix, Dimitri and Juliette, and Captain Garinov, Major Dressler is taken to the hospital train where Kara works. The medal has come full circle. In the end we learn that Felix has earned his own medal for bravery. Major Dressler tells them that each has earned it in their own way. "This medal belongs to every one of you. At some point, each of you found yourself in a terrible situation, and you responded with courage, with honor, and with kindness. Through your examples, you saved me." 

Nielson packs much information about the war and fighting into the novel through her characters. For example, Sergeant Baum attempts to explain to Kara what the fighting is really like and later in the novel readers are presented with the utter destruction that occurred during the war in Verdun when Juliette returns to try to find her home:
"...Most of the few buildings still standing looked ready to topple over with the next gust of wind. Half of them had at least one wall stripped away. Any memories that might have been preserved for the families who'd lived there once were now open for anyone to view, or they had been long ago scattered about.....
At last she turned onto a road that was familiar. There, not far ahead, stood a house that she recognized, left nearly intact. Her home would be across the road and thirty steps down.
Yet thirty steps later, she stood facing a pile of rubble, rocks and plaster and brick jumbled up with items she vaguely recognized as having belonged to her family once.
This could not have been her home, not this terrible pile of broken dreams. But it was."

 

Lines of Courage does capture some of the reality of life during the Great War; - the devastation from years of shelling and gas, the terror of battle for the soldiers, the displacement of refugees and the fragility of their existence in countries torn apart by war, the fear and mistrust people from one nation had for people from other nations, the futility of war. The end of the war is also shown to be a time of upheaval with references to the revolution in Russia and the murder of the Tsar and his family, of the coming of the Spanish Flu which Elsa's mother contracted, and the discontent and anger in Germany over losing the war and the foreshadowing of an even worse time to come. 

There is a detailed Author's Note at the back with information on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the Red Cross trains, trench warfare, the Battle of Verdun, the Russian Revolution, the Weimar Republic and the impact of World War I. 

Lines of Courage is another outstanding novel by Jennifer Nielsen. Informative, engaging and realistic is it's portrayal of war and its impacts on soldiers and civilians alike.

Book Details:

Lines of Courage by Jennifer A. Nielsen
New York: Scholastic Press      2022
388 pp.