lina is deported from her home by the NKVD (soviet secret police) and is treated like a "racist pig". if she makes a wrong move, she could be shot or tortured. and this is all because she is considered anti-soviet by stalin. i thought this story was really touching because it had all these moments where lina's family needed to love each other and their friends. it was really sad that all these people got deported because they were well-educated or they helped someone escape. if you like to learn about history, then you should read this book.
Between Shades of Gray
By Ruta Sepetys
| Interest Level | Reading Level | Reading A-Z | ATOS | Word Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grades 6 - 8 | Grades 1 - 4 | n/a | 3.6 | 64750 |
“Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both.” --The Washington Post
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously-and at great risk-documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.
Praise for BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY:
“A superlative first novel. A hefty emotional punch.”--The New York Times Book Review
“A brilliant story of love and survival.”--Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Speak and Wintergirls
* “Beautifully written and deeply felt…an important book that deserves the widest possible readership.”--Booklist, Starred Review
A New York Times Bestseller
An International Bestseller
A New York Times Notable Book of 2011
A Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book of 2011
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2011
The iTunes 2011 Rewind Best Teen Novel
The #1 Book on the Spring 2011 IndieNext List
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2011
A Booklist Best Book of 2011
A Kirkus Best Book of 2011
2012 IRA Children’s and Young Adults Book Award for Young Adult Fiction
2012 Indies Choice Young Adult Book of the Year
A Carnegie Medal Finalist
A William C. Morris Finalist
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously-and at great risk-documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.
Praise for BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY:
“A superlative first novel. A hefty emotional punch.”--The New York Times Book Review
“A brilliant story of love and survival.”--Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Speak and Wintergirls
* “Beautifully written and deeply felt…an important book that deserves the widest possible readership.”--Booklist, Starred Review
A New York Times Bestseller
An International Bestseller
A New York Times Notable Book of 2011
A Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book of 2011
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2011
The iTunes 2011 Rewind Best Teen Novel
The #1 Book on the Spring 2011 IndieNext List
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2011
A Booklist Best Book of 2011
A Kirkus Best Book of 2011
2012 IRA Children’s and Young Adults Book Award for Young Adult Fiction
2012 Indies Choice Young Adult Book of the Year
A Carnegie Medal Finalist
A William C. Morris Finalist
Publisher: Speak
ISBN-13: 9780142420591
ISBN-10: 014242059X
Published on 4/3/2012
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 384
Book Reviews (36)
lina is deported from her home by the NKVD (soviet secret police) and is treated like a "racist pig". if she makes a wrong move, she could be shot or tortured. and this is all because she is considered anti-soviet by stalin. i thought this story was really touching because it had all these moments where lina's family needed to love each other and their friends. it was really sad that all these people got deported because they were well-educated or they helped someone escape. if you like to learn about history, then you should read this book.
What first drew me to the book was the snow sprinkled eyelashes on the cover. The book is about Lina, her brother, and her mother trying to survive when they have been kicked out of their home in Lithuania with only what they can carry in their suitcases. Put on a train and deported by the Russians to Siberia, along the way Lina and her family were sent to a camp where she had to farm beets. If you were too sick to work you wouldn’t get your ration (which was 300 grams a day). This book was really good. I usually don’t like books about history because they always seem like textbooks trying to be a fictional story, even though they aren’t. But it was way better than I expected, and it was totally not like a textbook. This book is one of those books that you could read more than once, like Harry Potter, you could just read it again and again.
Great Book! One night fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother and young brother are hauled from their home by Soviet Guards, thrown into cattle cars and sent away.They are being deported to Siberia. "An unimaginable and harrowing journey."
This book is so sad but amazing at the same time as Lina leads you though such a hard and heart-felt journey. It's definitely a book I would want to read again
This is an amazing heartfelt book. It is about a girl who is sold into slavery sperated from her father. If you are very sensitive, be careful when you read it.
I felt like this book took you through a completely different perspective of the time period of The Holocaust. We all know and have read what happened to Jewish citizens throughout Europe but many other groups of people were affected. This book takes you to the Soviet Union where Lina and her family as well as other Lithuanians are taken to Siberia into work camps. This is the story that is untold about the Russian genocide.
i want to read this book it looks\sounds like a good book!!!!! :)
This is a very very sad book. This book is about a girl named Lina. Lina and her mom and brother have been left to die and work at a concentration camp, and she has been separated from her dad.
I read this book a while ago, and decided to read it again. It is still one of my ALLTIME favorite books. The book shows how hard some people's lives were, and also how they managed to live on. Though I wont give away any spoilers, EXPECT sadness. (This book is not for the faint-hearted) How to read this book: 1. Read 2.Cry 3. Read 4. Cry 5. Repeat :D -Thea