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Shop nowThe Blood Years
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Learn moreFrom Michael L. Printz honoree & National Book Award finalist Elana K. Arnold comes the harrowing story of a young girl's struggle to survive the Holocaust in Romania.
Frederieke Teitler and her older sister, Astra, live in a house, in a city, in a world divided. Their father ran out on them when Rieke was only six, leaving their mother a wreck and their grandfather as their only stable family. Heās done his best to provide for them and shield them from antisemitism, but now, seven years later, being a Jew has become increasingly dangerous, even in their beloved home of Czernowitz, long considered a safe haven for Jewish people. And when Astra falls in love and starts pulling away from her, Rieke wonders if thereās anything in her life she can count onāand, if so, if she has the power to hold on to it.
Thenāwar breaks out in Europe.Ā First the Russians, then the Germans, invade Czernowitz.Ā Almost overnight, Rieke and Astraās world changes, and every day becomes a struggle: to keep their grandfatherās business, to keep their home, to keep their lives. Rieke has long known that she exists in a world defined by those who have power and those who do not, and as those powers close in around her, she must decide whether holding on to her life might mean letting go of everything that has ever mattered to herāand if thatās a choice she will even have the chance to make.
Based on the true experiences of her grandmotherās childhood in Holocaust-era Romania, award-winning author Elana K. Arnold weaves an unforgettable tale of love and loss in the darkest days of the twentieth centuryāand one young womanās will to survive them.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Elana K. ArnoldĀ is the award-winning author of many books for children and teens, including The House That Wasnāt There, the Printz Honor winner Damsel, the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, and the Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat. She is a member of the faculty at Hamline Universityās MFA in writing for children and young adults program and lives in Long Beach, California, with her husband, two children, and a menagerie of animals. You can find her online at elanakarnold.com.