Ashes

by Kathryn Lasky

Overview

Berlin, 1932. Thirteen-year-old Gabriella Schramm's world is slowly, but steadily, crumbling as Adolf Hitler rises to power. The only thing that soothes Gabriella is her favorite pastime-reading. But then her country's tensions rise, the streets fill with soldiers, Gaby's sister's boyfriend raises his arm in a heil Hitler salute, and a family friend-Albert Einstein-flees the country. And her only solace-her books-come under attack. Will Gaby have to leave behind the stories-and the life-that she has always loved?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142411124
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	02/17/2011
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Award-winning author Kathryn Lasky has written many fiction and nonfiction books for children, including the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series upon which the computer-animated Warner Brothers film "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," is based. Ms. Lasky is also the author of the Newbery Honor Book Sugaring Time. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

-A good read for all middle school students.+ -VOYA

From the Publisher

In this thoughtful historical novel, Lasky (the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series) chronicles Hitler's rise to power in 1932 Berlin through the intelligent narration of 13-year-old Gaby. The action proves sluggish initially, though it establishes Gaby as a voracious reader growing up in an intellectual, literate family, with a physicist father who works with Einstein and a musically talented mother. Each chapter begins with a well-chosen quote from one of Gaby's beloved books, including The Call of the Wild and The Sun Also Rises. The pacing picks up as Gaby witnesses the rise of the Nazis; she realizes her family's sensible maid supports Hitler and overhears a baker's anti-Semitic remarks. Gaby begins a “Diary of Shame,” a mounting list of morally troubling moments, as when she salutes Hitler in school. Suspense builds as teachers lose jobs and as Gaby's sister becomes more seriously involved with her Nazi boyfriend. When book-burning threatens Gaby's precious books (and free thought in Germany), Gaby and her family must make critical, costly choices about their future. Gaby's questioning but assertive nature helps form a compelling, readable portrait of pre-WWII Germany. Ages 11–up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

[A] gripping story about Hitler's early rise to power...From the opening quote...the personal and the political history will haunt readers.

Booklist

Gr 6–10—Lasky's novel, set in Berlin in 1932, opens with an author's note that provides historical background. Gaby Schramm, 13, is an avid reader of world literature, and annoyed that her math teacher confiscates her books. Her unease grows when brown-shirted SA troops of Hitler's private army start occupying the city, signaling a distinct shift toward repression and anti-Semitism. Gaby's father, an astrophysics professor and colleague of Albert Einstein, is troubled that Einstein's work is labeled "Jewish physics," and Gaby's mother begins to fear for the safety of her Jewish friend, Baba. Although fascinated by her stylish literature teacher, Gaby withdraws from school after Fraulein Hofstadt presses her to join the Hitler Youth. Then her older sister becomes pregnant and plans to marry Karl, whom Gaby suspects of being a Nazi. Even when the family vacates to their summer house on a lake in Caputh, they cannot escape the darkening political climate, while back in Berlin, banned books are burned on a mammoth pyre. With a compelling plot, a strong sense of place, and vivid characters, the novel brings to life Hitler's inexorable rise to power and its impact on an intelligent German family forced to reconsider its loyalties.—Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT

School Library Journal

Lasky interweaves the personal and political with skill.

Horn Book