Deep Sea

Starred review from December 22, 2014
In the third installment in a series about a Jewish girl sent with her sister to live with Swedish families during WWII (following A Faraway Island and The Lily Pond), Stephie, now nearly 16, is living in a city with her best friend's big family, finishing grammar school. But on some weekends, and when summer comes, she heads back to the remote island home of her well-meaning but distant foster parents. In both places, Stephie worriesâshe wants to go to high school, but must persuade (and compromise with) the overextended relief committee supporting her. Meanwhile, her younger sister, Nellie, feels abandoned by their parents and is acting out, and a letter Stephie sends to her mother, who is in an Austrian concentration camp, is returned undelivered. This novel about coming of age during a complicated, tragic time in history is both delicate and poignant, as when Stephie and Nellie sit on the dock, remembering a lullaby their mother sang. Thor's novel capably demonstrates the loneliness, powerlessness, and prejudice Stephie faces, as well as her growing inner strength. Ages 14âup.

Starred review from October 15, 2014
The third installment in a proposed quartet of books about Stephie's experiences as a Jewish refugee in Sweden during World War II that began with Batchelder-winning Faraway Island (2009) and honor book The Lily Pond (2011). Now Stephie is 16, and her world has become increasingly complex; even her 10-year-old sister, Nellie, finds that it isn't easy to negotiate two worlds. The contrast between their Jewish heritage and faith with the Pentecostal Christianity of their hosts is challenging, as is finding funds for high school. Meeting other Jewish refugees awakens Stephie to the broader ethical aspects of the war, and messages from her parents in Theresienstadt help her understand the horrors of the Holocaust. Her friend Vera's sexual entanglements make her uneasy, and Stephie is frighteningly vulnerable. Her friend May's family and Miss Bjork, her teacher, come to the island for the summer, allowing readers to meet Miss Bjork's partner, Janice, an Englishwoman with a frivolous bent. The intricacy of the issues examined here are all built on events and characters introduced in the previous books, making for a rich blend of emotional truths presented in relatively few pages-but readers need to be familiar with those earlier titles to appreciate them.Readers who have come to love Stephie will be glad to see her world expand. (Historical fiction. 12-16)

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December 1, 2014

Gr 6-10-Almost four years have passed since Stephie and Nellie Steiner, introduced in A Faraway Island (2009) and The Lily Pond (2011, both Delacorte), were sent from Nazi-occupied Vienna to Sweden by their parents. Letters from Vienna have stopped, replaced by periodic postcards from Theresienstadt containing exactly 30 words each. Stephie, now 16, is living on the mainland to attend grammar school, supported by the Swedish relief committee, while the younger Nellie remains on the island with Auntie Alma's family. The teen is torn between wanting to continue her education and feeling guilt at being away from Nellie, whose memory of their parents has given way to deepening bonds with her foster family. Overshadowing all is the protagonist's constant worry about her parents. Thor includes details that demonstrate how Sweden, though technically neutral, was nonetheless greatly affected by the surrounding war, and she deftly balances the sisters' everyday concerns with the greater psychological aspects of being refugees. Readers who want to know more behind the unwritten words on the postcards might be steered to Susan Goldman Rubin's illustrated nonfiction books about life in Theresienstadt, Fireflies in the Dark (2001) and The Cat with the Yellow Star (2006, both Holiday).-Susan Stan, Professor Emerita of English, Central Michigan University

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015
The third installment in a quartet sees Stephie, now sixteen, embarking upon deep metaphorical seas; as Thor writes, "Her childhood is over." Fans of A Faraway Island (rev. 1/10) and its sequel The Lily Pond (rev. 1/12) will recall that Stephie and her younger sister Nellie were sent to a Swedish island from Vienna as refugees from Hitler's Third Reich, and that the adjustment hasn't been easy. Four years later, Stephie is living in mainland Gteborg with best friend May's family, still following adoptive Aunt Marta's strictures, and excelling at grammar school in hopes of continuing on to study medicine. But Stephie's calm, capable exterior masks a host of worries. Her beloved parents are now prisoners in Theresienstadt; she and Nellie are estranged; and her plan to attend high school is in jeopardy when her funding dries up. Several life-changing events push Stephie further toward adulthood (and make this series entry a book for older readers): her old friend Vera gets pregnant and involves an unwitting Stephie in her plan to trick a different man into marrying her; a renewed acquaintance with a fellow refugee prompts a crisis of identity as Stephie finally rejects Aunt Marta's Pentecostal church and reclaims her Jewish heritage. The last vestiges of Stephie's childhood fall away when she learns of her parents' fates. As in the previous books, the present tense and a limited third-person narration that reflects Stephie's every thought and emotion give the story unusual immediacy, nuance, and impact. Readers process events right along with Stephie, allowing for a refreshing absence of an intrusive authorial voice. martha v. parravano Hold Tight, Don't Let Go:

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