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The advent of the Wall
Heidi's thirteenth birthday is coming up, but she's disappointed, her mother is pregnant and refuses to make the annual summer visit to Heidi's grandmother. What's more, it's 1961 and the government is cracking down on border crossers, people who work in the West but live in the East. Heidi's father is a border crosser, and her best friend, Petra, has been forbidden to see Heidi until her father finds a new job in East Berlin. Heidi feels betrayed. Then, as political tension mounts, her parents tell her they are secretly moving West, and Heidi must travel alone to get her grandmother. But, how can she do it without Petra's help?
The author captures all the terror of the time in her gripping story of an indomitable heroine who steals across the Berlin border by facing her greatest fear.
Heidi's thirteenth birthday is coming up, but she's disappointed, her mother is pregnant and refuses to make the annual summer visit to Heidi's grandmother. What's more, it's 1961 and the government is cracking down on border crossers, people who work in the West but live in the East. Heidi's father is a border crosser, and her best friend, Petra, has been forbidden to see Heidi until her father finds a new job in East Berlin. Heidi feels betrayed. Then, as political tension mounts, her parents tell her they are secretly moving West, and Heidi must travel alone to get her grandmother. But, how can she do it without Petra's help?
The author captures all the terror of the time in her gripping story of an indomitable heroine who steals across the Berlin border by facing her greatest fear.
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Reviews
"Dahlberg presents a realistic portrayal of the formal separation of East and West Germany and the building of the Berlin Wall. The climax is well timed and...holds readers' attention. Youngsters will also relate to Heidi's emotional struggle with maturity."
School Library Journal
"Heidi's viewpoint effectively conveys the reality of life in an increasingly authoritarian East Berlin without foregoing common teen concerns of friends and fashion. The novel treats a dramatic time in history, and it will enlighten contemporary youngsters about divisions of the past that may have influenced their own family's experiences."
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Heidi's first-person narration keeps readers in a front-row seat to extremely exciting events, and her voice is very much that of an ordinary and likable young teen rising to the challenge of extraordinary demands."
The Horn Book Magazine