Allmost Autumn

Reviewed by: Connie Smith - Breakwater School, POrtland, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date:

Review

This book was translated from Norwegian into English by Rosie hedger, a woman born in Scotland but who completed he MA studies in Scandinavian literature at the University of Edinburgh. Rosie also spent a year at the University of Oslo and later lived in Sweden and Denmark. The author, Marianne Kaurin was born in Norway and studied at the Institute of children's books. In her debut novel, Marianne takes an intimate look at a fictional family who endures the harassment, discrimination and displacement of Norwegian Jews. Their experiences are narrated through varying viewpoints and is very "up close and personal. A young 15 Year old Else Stern falls in love with her neighbor, Hermann, who unbeknownst to Ilse and his own family, works for the resistance. The author plays with the notion of "chance and fate" in the novel and relates this to the fact that if her own grandfather had not survived imprisonment in Japan for three years, then she herself would not be here to pass on these very important World War 11 stories. A riveting story that allows the story of the Holocaust to be shared in a most visceral way. I would highly recommend this book for students in 7th grade and beyond.

Overall Book Score: excellent