September 1, 2014
Gr 4-6-Fifteen-year-old Wendy Dekker's life has drastically changed. Just a few months ago, she was Wendy Taylor from New York living with her mom, dad, and friends in America. But after being kidnapped by her Aunt Adrie, who turns out to be her mother, not to mention a Nazi spy and a German, Wendy's life is transformed. Since crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of World War II, Wendy is now living in Germany. She is expected to speak German and forget about her time in America. Her mother wants them to be together, believe in the same cause, and for Wendy to become the "perfect German daughter." Her mother has a strict list of rules for her new home. One of them is to stay away from the top shelf of books in the library-but it's in those books that Wendy begins to discover who she really is. As the unthinkable is happening all around her, Wendy learns more about what the German government is doing and plans her escape. Harlow creates another beautiful and touching story that captures what it was like during 1942 in Berlin, Germany. By introducing German words, songs and popular phrases, reader are transported back in time and surrounded by war. Harlow does an excellent job of weaving in true historical facts with fiction. This book is a stand-alone companion to Shadows on the Sea (S. & S., 2013).-Paige Bentley-Flannery, Deschutes Public Library, Bend, OR
Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
November 1, 2014
Grades 4-7 Wendy awakes in Nazi Germany, the past week a blur: after she learns her beloved aunt Adrie is in reality not only her mother but a Nazi spy, Adrie kidnaps her and takes her to Berlin on a submarine. Wendy tries to fit in by learning German and volunteering at a Lebensborn Home, but despite her vow to become a good German girl and ignore everything ugly, her new friendships with a blind man and a religious objector challenge her resolve. While Wendy occasionally comes across as younger than her intended age and Adrie's cold impatience makes Wendy's previous devotion to her confusing, this historical novel offers a succinct look at everyday life in Nazi Germany. Although nothing is explored with very much emotional depth, Harlow includes many details about Nazi atrocities and resistance factions in Germany. Avid fans of Harlow's Shadows on the Sea (2003) will likely appreciate learning what happens to Wendy, and this companion volume stands well enough on its own that new readers will have no trouble following the story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)
October 1, 2014
As World War II rages, a naive almost-15-year-old American girl is brought to Berlin by her German spy mother; there, she's expected to be a perfect Deutsches Madchen (German girl) and a loyal Nazi. Harlow's exciting historical novel begins with a bang as readers learn that Wendy Taylor, a character from Shadows on the Sea (2003), is really Wendy Dekker, the daughter of the woman she grew up thinking was her beloved Aunt Adrie. In a plot that neatly weaves historical facts with killer suspense, Wendy, now essentially a captive of her rabidly fanatical fan-of-the-Fuhrer mother, must learn German and volunteer in a Lebensborn nursery, a eugenics program created by Himmler to create perfect blue-eyed, blond German citizens. There, her world perspective is enlarged by Jehovah's Witness Joanna, a Bibelforscher who is being re-educated, as her religious sect will not fight for or worship Hitler. But Wendy is not as isolated as she thinks; she's being watched over by Herr Strohkirch, a friend of her real father, and his blind grandson, Barret. They feed her information, counsel her on blending in and eventually help her to plot her escape. The final portion of the novel consists of Wendy's harrowing journey-a nail-biting will-she-or-won't-she flight from Germany to the relative safety of neutral Sweden. A stimulating blend of suspense and history. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
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January 1, 2015
In a companion novel to Shadows on the Sea, fifteen-year old American Wendy Dekker struggles to adjust to life in Nazi Germany, where she's brought by her Nazi-spy mother. Navigating her way through a tense Berlin, Wendy struggles to come to terms with injustices around her. Despite some awkward plot points and over-explanatory sections, Wendy's earnest voice is compelling. Historical afterword appended.
(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)