Words on Fire

July 1, 2019
Audra doesn't understand what her parents are hiding until the Cossacks come to arrest them. It's June 1893, in what used to be the country of Lithuania but has been part of Russia for years. Twelve-year-old Audra has spent most of her life on her parents' farm. Her stage-magician father travels, and Audra knows he and her mother are doing something illegal, but she doesn't know what. When Officer Rusakov arrests them and sets fire to their home, Audra discovers that they've been smuggling books--printed in Lithuanian. The Russians long ago banned that language, spoken or written, in an attempt to force assimilation. Even though everyone speaks both languages (Lithuanian in secret), Audra's parents have kept her illiterate rather than have her attend Russian school. Now she joins a group of rebels smuggling books from printers in Prussia: adults Milda and Ben, and Lukas, a boy her own age. Magic tricks her father taught her allow her to distract her pursuers rather than hide from them. Written from Audra's first-person point of view, with an all-white cast in keeping with its Eastern European setting, the novel suffers a bit from inconsistent pacing but delivers believable action and suspense. The Cossack leader comes across as a typical evil Russian, but the other characters are more fully drawn. Overall, a solid adventure about a little-known place and time. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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Starred review from October 1, 2019
Grades 4-8 *Starred Review* Set in the 1890s, this compelling and thoughtful novel examines pre-Soviet Russia's occupation of Lithuania. By order of the tsar, all Lithuanians must assimilate into Russian culture because as far as the tsar is concerned, Lithuania has ceased to exist, along with its books, traditions, schools, culture, and language. The people of Lithuania, however, are not going to give up without a fight; indeed, uprisings are nearly a historical tradition. Audra, 12, knows little about this, because her parents have sheltered her from their activities. One night, everything changes when the Cossacks come to the door to arrest her parents?for book smuggling. Audra flees with a package to deliver and finds herself abruptly involved in the world of book smuggling. At first terrified and tempted to try to trade information for her parents' safety, Audra commits herself fiercely to the cause. Her transformation from a shy, retiring child to a courageous and creative young woman as she employs her father's magic tricks to help her work is marvelous to see. She is surrounded with complex and well-rounded characters, including the "big bad" Officer Rusakov, and the plot is gripping and moves swiftly. Audra's story deserves a place on the shelf next to Lois Lowry's Number the Stars and Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)