Between shades of gray by Ruta Sepytys 344 pages

This is a chapter of history rarely mentioned in children's literature: Joseph Stalin's reign of terror. On June 14th, 1941, 15-year-old Lina, her younger brother and her mother are arrested by Soviet soldiers and sent via boxcar from her Lithuanian homeland to Siberia. Her father had been arrested previously, but Lina hopes that they will be reunited. Her mother seems ludicrously optimistic despite their horrible conditions. Like Anne Frank Lina is driven to draw pictures illustrating their plight even though she knows that if her drawings are discovered there could be horrible consequences. This is an important book but it is so overwhelming bleak. I listened to the audio version and it was almost difficult to return to this tale knowing that the ending was likely to be brutal. The author researched this story and uses flashbacks to lighten the tale a bit with happy past memories. Her brave mother creates a larger family with their fellow prisoners, even though many are selfish and negative. Lina meets a fellow traveler, Andrus for whom she reluctantly develops deep feelings. Lovely writing, but oh, so tragic.