The Earth is Singing

By Author / Illustrator

Vanessa Curtis

Genre

Books set in the past

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Usborne Publishing Ltd

ISBN

9781409577447

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

27-01-2015

Synopsis

My name is Hanna. I am 15. I am Latvian. I live with my mother and grandmother. My father is missing, taken by the Russians. I have a boyfriend and I'm training to be a dancer. But none of that is important any more. Because the Nazis have arrived, and I am a Jew. And as far as they are concerned, that is all that matters. This is my story.

Reviews

I recommend this book because it is an amazing beautiful story about a girl who was forced to grow up really quickly in the space of 1 year. It also opens your eyes to how harsh and cruel it was living as a Jewish person during the War.

Suggested Reading Age 11+

Hanna Michelson is a fifteen year old Latvian girl who lives with her mother and grandmother. Her father is missing, taken by the Russians, and the Nazis have just marched into Latvia. Hanna lives for dancing but because she is Jewish, she is no longer allowed to go to school. The family are forced to move from their lovely villa to a small apartment. Gradually their situation becomes worse; her mother, a seamstress, is not allowed to work, food is scarce and then the Nazis force them to move into the ghetto. Starving and sick, people are regularly rounded up and marched to their deaths. Can Hanna survive?

A stark and at times shocking and heart-breaking story that really communicates the horror of the holocaust. It is very well told and left me feeling haunted by the story. One that will stay with you long after the last page has been read. 336 pages / Ages 14+ / Reviewed by Nina