ISBN 978-0-385-73617-6
Plot Summary:
During the summer of 1939, two Jewish sisters, Nellie and
Stephie, from Vienna are sent to Sweden by their parents to find safety from
the Nazis. The sisters live in separate foster homes. They expect Sweden to be
a wonderful place to stay, but Stephie finds it challenging to fit in and is
mocked by most of her peers. While the sisters are not reunited with their
parents by the end of the story, Stephie finds her place in Sweden, and is
finally able to live happily on the island.
Critical Analysis:
A Faraway Island is
a beautifully and painfully written book concerning Jewish assimilation into
the Swedish culture. Cultural markers included in the book are relevant and
accurate. Of course, the language barrier for depicted in the story presents a
constant struggle for the sisters. The sisters, who have grown up speaking
German, are rushed into a Swedish speaking country with no prior experience. It
is only when Stephie begins to speak and understand Swedish that she begins to
find a comfortable place in her new country. While Stephie is often bullied
because of her lack of knowledge of Swedish, she is also picked on because of
her clothing, attitude, economic status, and level of schooling.
In this story, the reader becomes vaguely familiar with the
Jewish culture, but the Swedish culture is discussed in more detail, especially
pertaining to religion. Stephie is forced to attend a Christian church while in
Sweden. Attending a new church, with vastly differing beliefs from her own,
while speaking a different language presents an immense challenge to the
sisters. While Nellie fits in quickly, Stephie is more determined to resist the
new culture and religion. While in Sweden the sisters celebrate many Christian
celebrations, including Easter, which is a new cultural experience for both.
This story offers a painful and uplifting look into the
experience of the young Jewish refugees in Sweden. Through the story, the
reader gets an inside look at the Swedish and Jewish cultures, language
assimilation, and the challenge of building friendships in a new and different
culture. Stephie and Nellie’s story is uncomfortable at times, but honest to a
fault.
Awards and Reviews:
Mildred L. Batchelder Award, 2010 Winner United States
Sydney Taylor
Book Award, 2010 Honor Book Older Readers; United States
Best Children's Books of the Year, 2010; Bank Street College of Education;
United States
Horn Book
Fanfare, 2009; United States
Notable
Children's Books, 2010; ALSC American Library Association; United
States
Booklist:
In 1939, Jewish
sisters Stephie and Nellie Steiner are evacuated from their home in
Nazi-occupied Vienna to an island
off the coast of Sweden, where separate foster families take them in.
Eight-year-old Nellie adjusts very quickly—learning Swedish, making friends,
and enjoying her new foster siblings. Twelve-year-old Stephie has more
difficulties—she is tormented by school bullies, must deal with a cold and
critical foster mother, and worries about her parents’ safety. Thor
successfully captures the feel of small-town Sweden circa 1939-40, with its
kindly citizens devoted to Christianity and good works who nevertheless harbor
latent anti-Semitic views. The translation is mostly smooth, and the use of
third-person present tense narration helps distance readers from Holocaust
realities while subtly reminding them that child refugees still exist. The
first of four volumes featuring the Steiner sisters, this should be popular
with fans of Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars (1989) and make a good bridge to
more visceral memoirs such as Anita Lobel’s No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War
(1998). Grades 4-6.
Kirkus:
At the onset
of World War II, Jewish Stephanie and her younger sister, Nellie, are sent to a
Swedish island to live with
separate host families while they await their parents' visas to America. Even
after the turmoil of Vienna, Stephie struggles with separation from her sister
and living with strict Aunt Marta in lonely isolation, while Nellie quickly
finds friends and comfort. As time passes and her Swedish improves, Stephie
learns more about why her circumstances are more difficult than Nellie's. While
the parents encounter multiple barriers to reuniting the family, some small
adjustments are made in the girls' daily lives to ease their situation. The
increasing involvement of Sweden in the war provides a commonality between the
girls and the villagers, allowing Stephie to look outside her pain to find an
inner strength and determination that she never knew she had. Straightforwardly
told in the present tense and easier for tender hearts than the brutal stories
of concentration camps, this still conveys the reality of war and the suffering
of those displaced by it. 2009, Delacorte, 256p, $16.99. Category: Historical
fiction. Ages 9 to 14.
Connections:
This book can be
integrated into the curriculum to teach about varying cultures, bullying,
language acquisition, and religion.
Check out the
following titles concerning World War II refugees…
Casanova, Mary. The klipfish code. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Co., 2007.
Hartnett, Sonya, and Andrea Offermann. The midnight zoo.
Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2011.
Thor, Annika, and Linda Schenck. The lily pond. New York:
Delacorte Press, 2011.
Brave Emily: 1944.
Middleton, WI: Pleasant, 2006.
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