Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys
Publication Information: New York : Philomel Books, 2011.
ISBN: 9780142420591
Pages: 344
Ages: 12+
Annotation: In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar.
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life--until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Lina finds solace in her art, documenting these events by drawing. Risking everything, she imbeds clues in her drawings of their location and secretly passes them along, hoping her drawings will make their way to her father's prison camp. But will strength, love, and hope be enough for Lina and her family to survive?
Read-a-likes:
The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak
Anna and the Swallow Man, by Gavriel Savit
The War Within These Walls, by Aline Sax
Other Books by This Author: Out of the Easy, and Salt to the Sea