A Faraway Island

November 30, 2009
Twelve-year-old Stephie and eight-year-old Nellie Steiner, two Jewish sisters, are forced to leave their home and their parents in Vienna when the Nazis invade, and are placed with different families on an unfamiliar Swedish island (“Gray-brown cliffs and rocks extend along the edge of the ocean.... The end of the world
, Stephie thinks. This must be the end of the world
”). While their parents plan to meet up with them in a few months to escape to America, as time passes and the war advances, hope begins to fade. Adapting to Swedish life is easy and fun for Nellie, but Stephie struggles with the chilly disposition of her caretaker, Aunt Märta. She is a good student, taking to the Swedish language quickly, but she remains an outsider in school. Throughout the year Stephie suffers hardships big and small, and is conflicted after she and her sister are baptized Pentecostal. Thor's debut novel, inspired by true events and first in a series of four books, depicts a vivid and sometimes frightening picture of life as a WWII refugee, as well as the complexities of sisterhood. Ages 8–12.

December 1, 2009
Gr 5-8-In this gripping story, Stephie and Nellie, two Austrian Jewish sisters, are evacuated in 1938 from Vienna to a Swedish island and placed in separate foster homes. Twelve-year-old Stephie has promised her parents that she will try to ease her younger sister's way, a burdensome promise to keep. Auntie Alma, Nellie's Swedish mother, is warmer and more welcoming than Auntie Märta, Stephie's more austere foster parent. At first it seems that Nellie will have a more difficult time adjusting, but the opposite happens. Loneliness and a sense of isolation engulf Stephie. The shunning and taunting of cliquish, bigoted girls intensify her longing for home and the familiar, but Stephie bravely perseveres, bolstered by the hope that she will only be separated from her parents for a short time. Unfortunately this does not happen, and the girls must remain on this faraway island. Children will readily empathize with Stephie's courage. Both sisters are well-drawn, likable characters. This is the first of four books Thor has written about the two girls. It is an excellent companion to Lois Lowry's "Number the Stars" (Houghton, 1989), Kit Pearson's "The Sky Is Falling" (Viking, 1990; o.p.), and Olga Levy Drucker's "Kindertransport" (Holt, 1995)."Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2009
Grades 4-6 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 quicklylearning Swedish, making friends, and enjoying her new foster siblings. Twelve-year-old Stephie has more difficultiesshe 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 Lowrys Number the Stars (1989) and make a good bridge to more visceral memoirs such as Anita Lobels No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War (1998).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)