Between Shades of Gray

Reader: Sabrina
Age: 17
Title: Between Shades of Gray
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Penguin
Pub Date: March 2011
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: Between Shades of Gray is about the Lina and her family’s deportation out of their homeland Lithuania. This book depicts their struggles, and others, during this horrible time period. Sepetys describes in detail the excruciating pain and suffrage Lina and her family (as well as others) went through due to Stalin.
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: At first, I thought this was a story about concentration camps, not having read the side pocket, but I was baffled to learn that Stalin did similar regimes to Lithuanians and people of other nationalities. I cannot recall studying anything about Stalin so this book was a real eye opener for me. I never knew that so many people suffered because of World War II I always thought about Pearl Harbor and Hitler. Stalin never came across to me; this book helped enlighten the fact that it wasn't only one nationality that suffered during this time period; it was the world.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The most compelling aspect of the book was the strength Lina, her mother, and her brother, as well as other characters, had. It's hard to imagine all this inhumane events happening to one person, or a group of people, let alone reading about their story. It was amazing to see so much hope throughout the book in these characters even though they where forced into all these horrible events.
Cover: The cover did tempt me to pick up the book and reflected the contents in the book. It was gloomy but had a bit of hope in it-just like Lina and her family's story.
Age Range: 14-18 and up
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 5P Everyone wants to read it