The Wall Between Us by Dan Smith

Anja and Monika are best friends. They live in Berlin and it only takes a few steps to cross the street to see each other ... until!  The year is 1961. It is August 13th.

1. How will I see Monika if there's barbed wire right along the middle of the road.

2. How will Otto get back home? (Papa says Ottos will be find. He says cats are cleverer than the devil and that they can find a way through anything.)

3. How will Uncle Konrad get to work?

4. What's going to happen now?

The answer to question four forms the content of this book. We read journal entries by Anja and letters from Monika although sadly these cannot be delivered.

"At midnight on 13th August, 1961, East German authorities built a barrier of barbed  wire and cinder blocks to stop their citizens from leaving. ... The Berlin wall was approximately 155 kilometres long and (it) was five metres high in some places. .... Approximately 200 people were killed trying to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin. At midnight on 9 November 1989, restrictions were ended and people were finally free to pass through the Berlin Wall."

Read an extract from the first chapter here. And here is a very detailed review with text quotes and images. 

This is a compulsive, nuanced and relevant tale, about an important period of recent European history.  Historical Novel society

From the beginning of the story, we are aware that Anja and Monika get arrested for their crimes. Each journal entry or letter is preceded by a Ministry for State Security case file note. These detail Anja and Monika’s arrest in the Autumn of 1961. What we are yet to discover is what the two get up to and how they get found out. Smith presents us with one great big jigsaw puzzle and piece by piece, we have to ascertain how the arrest will unfurl. Just Imagine

I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through this gripping first-hand account which relates the events between 13th August and 7th October - the date of Anja's arrest. I highly recommend this book for readers aged 10+. It was published in 2023 by Chicken House in the UK. This publisher always deliver splendid books for middle grade readers. 

Bookseller blurb: A stunning, exciting story from acclaimed author Dan Smith - author of the Carnegie Medal-nominated Nisha's War. BERLIN 1961 Anja and Monika live opposite each other. They play together every day, with Otto the cat. One night they wake up to bangs and shouts. Soldiers are building a huge barbed wire fence between them. A terrible forever wall that gets longer and higher until it divides the whole city. On the East side, Monika is scared - neighbours are becoming spies and there are secret police everywhere. It's Anja who spots that Otto has found a way across. If he can visit Monika, then perhaps she can too. But Anja gets trapped and there's no safe way back . . .

I also enjoyed this book by Dan Smith:

She Wolf

Waiting for the Storks by Katrina Nannestad

"Then he takes a smaller tool, like a ruler with little sliding bits, and measures my ears 

and ear holes and earlobes, the thickness of my lips, the distance between my eyes, 

the length and width of my nose and lots of other bits in between. 

Herr Doktor takes one last lap around me, staring, then declares, 

'It is a perfect head!"

Krakow, Poland is a dangerous place. Zofia Ulinski, her Mama and Tata (father) know there are huge risks now that the Nazis have invaded their city. Zofia and her family are Catholic not fewish but these German conquerors have banned so many every day things.

"They marched into Krakow, acting as though it was their city, not ours. ... they started closing libraries and schools, radio stations and newspapers, synagogues and universities ... burned books (and) ... started rounding up teachers and writers and doctors and artists and priests and professors and sending them off to concentration camps."

Tata is a tailor and he is also working for the resistance. As this story opens there are some parcels that need to be delivered. Mama and Zofia offer to take them and of course they promise to stay in the shadows and avoid crowded busy streets. They carry the carefully wrapped parcels in two baskets. One parcel contains a green striped velvet suit for Mr Wojcik. It is almost impossible to find materials for new clothes so this strange colourful suit has been made from his dining room curtains. On their way to make their deliveries they meet three German soldiers. I think I held my breath through the whole scene as the SS guards ripped open the parcels and threw their precious contents onto the muddy gutter. Zofia knows should stay quiet, she should not draw attention to herself but this is all so outrageous. She screams stop - and she screams it in German. 

"The first soldier puts his finger under my chin and lifts my face. He gazes into my eyes and his smile widens. ... The second soldier pulls off my headscarf. He takes one of my long blonde plaits in his hand and holds it out. All three chatter about my clear blue eyes, my pale skin, my shiny golden hair."

What does all of this mean? Read this statement (found on the very first page of this book):

"I really do have the intention to gather Germanic blood from the whole world, to rob it, to steal it wherever I can. Heinrich Himmler, Commander of the SS, 1938."

Little eight year old Zofia has no idea that she is about to be kidnapped, taken to Germany, held in an orphanage where she will be re-educated as a perfect German child.  In this horrid place the children (all blonde and perfect) are given clothes, shoes, and plenty of food but the punishments are brutal and their are constant medical and psychological tests. She will be told, over and over again, a new story about her life and a will be given a new name and new identity. And of course there is the constant cry of Heil Hitler. 

During one of the medical examinations, an important doctor arrives - Doctor Engels (adult readers are sure to shudder at the mention of this infamous name). He takes a special interest in young Zofria who is now named Sophia Ullman. 

"Once I was Zofia Ulinaki, a stupid Polish pig. Now I am Sophia Ullman, a good German girl, a princess, with a perfect head, golden hair, blue eyes and hairless arms."

Doctor Engels takes Zofia to his home. Bavaria looks like the land of fairy tales. At his farm she meets her new Mutti (mother).

"This is just like a fairy tale where a girl thinks she's an orphan but, after many years of hardship is found by her mother and father and not only are they kind and loving, but they are also the queen and king of a very grand kingdom. Of course this isn't a fairy tale. This is a lie. The girl is me and I'm not an orphan or a long-lost princess, but a Polish girl who already has a mother and a father. But the lie is all I have. It's the only thing that will keep me safe".

Yesterday I picked up Waiting for the Storks and by 8pm I had read the whole book - yes it is, as I expected, another fabulous page turner from Katrina Nannestad and another book where she gave me an insight into an aspect of history - specifically of World War II and dreadful programs in Germany, which were entirely new to me.  Each section of the book is prefaced with a question which mirrors a game Zofia used to play with her parents - a game of choices:

• Cream on your salami or gravy on your poppyseed cake? Make a choice!
• German or Polish? Make a choice!
• Real life or a fairy tale? Make a choice!
• A sausage dog in a bonnet or a cat in a cardigan? Make a choice!
• A happy traitor or a miserable hero? Make a choice!
• A crimson spotted velvet skirt or a green striped velvet coat? Make a choice!

There were times in this book when I was SO tempted to jump to the end. I always know I am safe inside a middle grade book and that the author will protect me (and keep the loved character safe) but I deeply feared a sad ending. I just couldn't imagine how Zofia could possibly escape from this dreadful situation return to her real life. I am going to predict that this book will be a Children's Book Council of Australia Younger Readers notable title and I am sure it will also be short listed (6 books). 

Nannestad refuses to patronise her readership (while remaining age-appropriate) and her clarity and emotional intelligence will make it easy for younger readers to put themselves in Zofia’s shoes. Sydney Morning Herald

I think this is a powerful and important book that can start conversations and introduce readers to a different aspect of history that they may not know about or know much about – and that is why I love Katrina Nannestad’s historical fiction books. They give voices to people who might have been left out of history and allow us to gain insight into important history that might not be taught often. The Book Muse

Further reading:

US Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Lebensborn program also became involved in the kidnappings of thousands of foreign children. During the war, the SS sought out ethnic Germans living in foreign countries and “repatriated” them to the Third Reich. Thousands of children—mostly from eastern and southeastern Europe—were kidnapped because they had German ancestry or simply the “appropriate racial features.” The Lebensborn program then helped place these children with German families. Adopting families believed that the children had been orphaned by the war.

New York Times, November 2006

Teaching notes for Waiting for the Storks from the publisher

When you share this book or gift or borrow this book for a mature reader aged 11+ try to also find a copy of the Aesop fable - The Fox and the Stork.

You will want to read these previous books by Katrina Nannestad which also explore the impact of events during World War II on young children. I love these covers by Martina Heiduczek. This morning I discovered the Star review by Kirkus of We are Wolves. 

We are Wolves

Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief

In all three novels Nannestad shows the intense personal cost to children caught up in wars not of their making, forced to adapt and become strangers to their true selves in order to survive. Storylinks

Carefully and sensitively written, meticulously researched, the whole is a dissection of how the choices we make every day affect our lives and the lives of those we love. This (Waiting for the Storks) is the bleakest of these three novels but also the most powerful, most moving and most memorable. Storylinks

Image Source: Facebook

The Lady with the Books by Kathy Stinson illustrated by Marie Lafrance

The full title of this book is:  The Lady with the Books: A story inspired by the Remarkable Work of Jella Lepman

"The Lady with Books is most timely and highly recommended, especially for school libraries. Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to IBBY's Children in Crisis Fund, to support storytelling and book delivery to children who lives have been disrupted by war or disaster." Dr Robin Morrow Magpies Magazine vol 35, issue 4, September 2020.

"Let us set this upside-down world right again by starting with the children. They will show the grown-ups the way to go." Jella Lepman, 1945

Blurb from Kids Can Press: The lives of Anneliese and her little brother Peter have been forever changed by the war. One day, while wandering the ruined streets of Munich in search of food, they stumble upon an exhibition. The great hall is filled with more books than they can count! There are books from all over the world, in all different languages."

What is going on here in Germany?  It is 1946 and the wonderful Jella Lepman has organised an amazing exhibition international children's books. Having seen the destruction wrought by the war on cities in Germany, Jella wisely sets about collecting children's books from all around the world. In 1936 Jella herself fled Germany with her two children. During the war books were removed from libraries, shops and homes. In 1945 Jella returned to her home country. She visited many places and people in Germany. In a conversation with a bookseller she recalls in her biography (A Bridge of Children's Dreams):

They "spoke with urgency about the people's hunger for books, especially books that were from the free world and banned to them for twelve years. 'And children's books?' I asked. 'Children's books? Oh, there aren't any of those left whatever. Those are more needed than all the others."

Jella then has the idea of creating an exhibition of children's books - books that would create "bridges of understanding." Jella wrote letters to twenty countries. In 1946 the exhibition of 4000 books travelled across Germany. 

"It was a beautiful, never-to-be-forgotten day, that July 3, 1946, especially in the afternoon when the doors opened wide to admit the children. In they streamed, in happy packs, their faces radiant as though they were entering a magic ring."

Are you wondering about the books? Jella asked the children vote for their favourites: Tom Sawyer; Huckleberry Finn; Emil and the Detectives; Heidi; and Pinocchio. Also mentioned in The Lady with the Books are Pippi Longstocking; Babar; Winnie the Pooh (see author's note); and The Story of Ferdinand.

Next, Jella set about finding a more permanent home for the books, thus the International Youth Library was established. In 1983 the library moved into Bluntenburg Castle where today you can find 30,000 books in the lending library and 600,000 books in the reference library which is used by scholars from all over the world.

IBBY   In 1951 Jella organised a conference and this led to the formation of IBBY - The International Board on Books for Young People. Today there are more than 75 countries with their own sections of IBBY including one here in Australia.

"It occurred to us that we might provide a common platform for all those interested in children's books, by holding a conference for such people as writers, illustrators, publishers, booksellers, librarians, educators, art teachers, psychiatrists" and representatives of the media - film, radio and television.

The Lady with the Books tells the story of that first exhibition. This is a book, as Dr Robin Morrow past President of IBBY Australia states, that should be an essential purchase for all school library collections. You can read more about IBBY Canada and their invitation to Kathy Stinson to write this important picture book. I especially love the way Kathy Stinson gently shows Jella Lepman's vision in action. At the start of the story Anneliese sees a group of women working to clean the streets in her neighbourhood. Compare these text extracts:

"Women were still clearing away chunks of broken buildings and pavement with brooms and their bare hands. Couldn't they see that the street would never be what it had been before the war?"

After visiting the library and hearing stories Anneliese thinks:

"Tomorrow, Anneliese decided, she would join the women with their brooms. She would help clear the street around the damaged library. Any maybe someday, the building would again be filled with books."

Read more about Jella Lepman ( the quotes in this post come from this book):

Marie Lafrance is the illustrator of another book I loved reading:

We are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad

As the end of World War II looms the Red Army are marching in to East Prussia. Liesl, Otto, Mia, Mama, Oma and Opa watch as Papa puts on a uniform and walks away to be solider. It is October 1944 and Papa has a bad leg which was crushed when he was a boy. Joining his father is a neighbour who is missing three fingers and young Jacob who is only sixteen. Up until this time the family have expressed their loyalty to Hitler and to Germany but this is about to change. By December twenty-third food is chronically short and Mama is forced to trade her beautiful pearls in exchange for their Christmas lunch goose. The next day there is a knock at their door. Papa is missing in action. On the twelfth of January school is cancelled and within days the family are forced to flee.

Mama packs dinner plates, a silver sugar bowl, the mantel clock, the family photo album and clothes including her best dress. Some of this seems odd but it also shows the panic and uncertainly of this terrifying situation. Wisely, though, Mama sews her jewellery into the linings of the children's clothes. 

The small group set off on their dangerous journey. They do have a horse but Oma is old, it is freezing cold and there is no food or shelter. Eventually they are forced to dispose of almost everything they have bought. Opa takes two photos from the album and he explains to Liesl that she must not forget her name and the names of her family. Liesl Anna Wolf; Otto Friedrich Wolf; Mia Hilda Wolf; Erich - her father; Anna - her mother. When the group move on this time they leave Oma and Opa behind and later they loose Mama too.  Now the three young children must find a way to survive and continue their journey to the promised safety of Lithuania. While the children do encounter kindness they also meet people who betray and terrify them. 

Katrina Nannestad read the story of Wolfskinder and she was intrigued by the story from World War II of the thousands of displaced children who were "orphaned, abandoned or simply lost". Children who were forced to live in the forests and abandoned houses stealing and foraging for food. 

Background reading:

• Wolfskinder Project Blog
• DW German Broadcaster 2013 Article Lost and forgotten: German Wolf children in Lithuania by Monika Griebeler (Teachers only - not suitable to share with young children)
• Wikipedia - Wolf Children

Here are some teaching notes from Harper Collins. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy of We are Wolves. You can read some review comments by other Australia authors here. This book is due for publication on 29th October this year. I am certain We are Wolves will be short listed by the CBCA in 2021. I highly recommend this book for mature readers aged 10+.

I would follow We are Wolves with:

The Goose Road

Close to the Wind

Vinnie's War

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner

"Finally he had an idea. He found a pin in the lapel of his jacket, stuck it through the three bills, then through the envelope, and then through the suit lining. He had pinned his money down, so to speak. Well then, he thought, nothing can happen to it now."

Emil and his mother live in Newtown. Emil's father has died and his mother is struggling. She works as a hairdresser from her own home but money is always tight. Emil feels a great responsibility towards his mother. As the story opens Emil heading off to catch a train to visit and stay with his grandmother in Berlin. Mrs Tischbein has saved some money, quite a large amount, and Emil is entrusted to keep it save and deliver it.  At first the train carriage is crowded but for the final hours Emil finds himself alone with a man wearing a bowler hat. Emil is so worried about the money which he has 'hidden' in his inside coat pocket so he decides as an added security measure to pin the money to his pocket. Emil tries so hard to stay awake but eventually he falls asleep and his haunted by a terrible nightmare. In the play Emil is offered a drink while in the book the man offers Emil a chocolate. I did wonder did this contain a sleeping potion.  When Emil wakes up the money is gone. He sees the man in the bowler hat and so he jumps off the train and sets off after him.

It is clear Emil cannot confront this robber alone. Luckily a group of kids offer to help him and what a team they are.

"Bad luck is bad luck, any way you cut it. But having a few pals to help you out always makes things better."

They organise food, money and communications. I was thrilled that in the play they used an old rotary telephone and were not tempted to employ a mobile phone.

It is so awful when the money is stolen but the scene I enjoyed the most (in the book and the play) was when the gang capture the thief and Emil is able to identify his money because the notes have those pin holes.

You can read more about the plot and some of the controversy around the English translations:

• Tell me Another
• The Children's War
• A discount ticket to everywhere

Emil and the Detectives is one of those classic books that people of my generation probably remember reading. I certainly thought I had read this book as a child (the blue cover above seems very familiar) but perhaps I hadn't because I read it yesterday and most of the plot was new to me. This book was published in 1929 and translated into English in 1931.

I needed to read this book because today I saw the theatre production by Slingsby Theatre (from South Australia) written by Nicki Bloom. I am so glad the plot was fresh in my mind because it added another dimension to the play. How amazing to write a seventy minute play with just two actors and manage to give us the illusion of the gang of children, the city of Berlin, tram and train travel and the edge of the seat thrill of the chase as Emil and his new friends work together to capture the thief.  The lighting in this show is especially effective and brilliantly done. Watch this interview with the artistic director - Andy Packer.  Here is a fabulous set of teacher's notes to use with this production which will be performed in Melbourne in 2020. This is one of the best examples of theatre for children I have ever seen but I do think children in the audience need to be familiar with the book and I would suggest it is suitable for ages 10+.

Image source - Sydney Opera House December 2019

There have been five movie adaptions of this story, most in German, and several different theatre productions. This is the poster from the 1965 Disney movie.

Watch this video where several famous authors discuss this book and the National Theatre production in London.

A Great Escape by Felice Arena

The setting for A Great Escape is Berlin during the cold war just as the wall is going up and East and West are divided. The story begins on the day of the division. Barbed wire is put up all over the city and citizens are no longer allowed to travel between the two parts of the city. Peter has been left behind with his grandparents while his parents and sister are now on the other side.

Peter's whole focus is now on escape. He tries asking at the checkpoint but he is chased away. He sees a young couple who try to escape over the wall at the back of a cemetery. The young girl makes it over but her fiance is captured. Peter knows he cannot escape this way.

Now Peter is even more determined to leave. At midnight he quietly leaves the house he shares with his Oma and invalid Opa. He thinks he can swim across to the West but just as he is about to jump in the river he sees another young man with the same idea. He watches in horror as this man is shot by police who have quickly arrived in a patrol boat.

Things are very quiet on the East side of the wall. So quiet Peter notices every movement. A flock of pigeons wheel overhead. Peter follows them to the roof of a building. This building straddles the wall with half in the east and half in the west and it is set to be demolished. The pigeons he saw are homing pigeons and they are in the care of Otto, an apprentice carpenter, who has been forced to work on building the wall. Otto has a plan to fly to the West but he needs materials so he makes a promise to Peter that he can fly too.

The aspect of this book that I really appreciated, oddly, was the selfishness of Peter. Early on we meet Oma and Opa and it is easy to see they are struggling. Opa can no longer talk and needs assistance with every aspect of daily life. Now that Peter's parents are gone how will these elderly people get enough money for food? Peter, surely has to take some responsibility to help them. He is so fixed on leaving he cannot see that he actually needs to stay.  I don't want to spoil the story but during the final scenes I did let out a huge sigh of relief.

A Great escape is the third book in a series by Felice Arena which focus on bravery and war time from the point of view of a young protagonist. The first was The Boy and and Spy set in Italy during WWII and the second Fearless Frederic set during the Paris floods of 1910.  I think A Great Escape is the best one so far. I highly recommend this book for all young history fans. It is easy to read (only 156 pages) and the pace of the action means you just gallop through the story just as Peter himself races around Berlin desperate to escape and desperate to avoid capture. I read this whole book in one sitting. Perfect for age 9+. I was lucky to have an advance copy from my local bookshop.  I read this book in January. This book will be published in early March 2019. I would follow A Great Escape with Oranges in No Man's Land by Elizabeth Laird and Honey Cake by Joan Betty Stuckner.

An elephant in the garden by Michael Morpurgo

A few weeks ago a parent walking past me mentioned she was trying to buy a book for her son called An elephant in the garden. I had not heard of it so I was very curious. When I looked up this book I discovered it was by the famous author Michael Morpurgo. I clearly remember the very first Michael Morpurgo title I read called Why the whales came. It had a big impact on me so I was keen to buy An elephant in the garden for our school library.

This is a terrific story set in Dresden during World War Two. Lizzie, now nearly 90 and living in a Nursing Home in Canada, recalls the events of her early life when her mother worked at the Dresden Zoo. Bombs had been dropping all over Germany and the zoo authorities had taken the heart wrenching decision to shoot all the dangerous animals in the zoo so the people of Dresden, and perhaps the animals themselves, would not be put in any danger in the event of an attack.

Lizzie’s mum or Mutti convinces the zoo authorities that she can take care of one young elephant, Marlene. Mutti has cared for Marlene since her birth, indeed it was Mutti who named her Marlene after Marlene Dietrich. The family bring the four year old elephant home and all goes well until the fateful day the bombs begin to fall. Lizzie, her young brother Karli and Mutti all need to flea the city with Marlene in tow. Along the way they meet a Canadian airman whose plane has been shot down and they also acquire a whole choir of children as they travel across the country looking for refuge and help from the Americans.

Just as they reach this help Marlene runs off. I held my breath. It seemed they might never find her again.

I keep hoping to read that this was all based on a true story – it all seemed so plausible and real. Alas I have not found anything to prove or disprove this. This is a terrific adventure story and one that will be enjoyed by middle primary students. It was good to read a story about this period in history from the point of view of ordinary German citizens. A good alternative to the many holocaust novels for younger readers.

As with nearly all Michael Morpurgo books, this one has perfect and evocative illustrations by wonderful Michael Foreman.