This is a book I recommend, particularly for those who are interested in areas like the Ukraine, which is featured less in WWII fiction than areas like France or even Poland yet suffered heavy losses-only 5% of Ukranian Jews survived, only 2% of Western Ukranian Jews with almost no families intact. The audience for this book is probably right around middle school readers, with mature fourth to fifth graders able to handle the writing and themes, though too far into high school and the writing may feel a bit young for older readers. My Real Name is Hanna sits somewhat squarely in between Middle-Grade and YA (in my opinion). May we be encouraged, and encourage younger generations, to chose to be the helpers in the face of injustice, even when the cost to ourselves is high. This is perhaps the aspect of the book that may be the most troubling to younger readers-while the history here is accurate and a topic worth discussion, it is something that would require discussion with parents or other adults reading the book. On the flip side, there are characters who help the family hide, at great cost and risk to themselves. My Real Name is Hanna is realistic in this regard and does not hide that neighbors are turning each other in. Even before this moment, many of the townspeople were not just bystanders but actively participated in the hunting down and killing–either outright or through starvation or deportation to the ghettos and camps–of their neighbors. Hanna’s family is much the same, with her father or uncle venturing out very rarely to obtain whatever food they might possibly find to bring back to the starving families below ground.Įven underground, the family lives in fear of being caught and is, at one point, walled in to the cave by townspeople. The real family this story is based on lived the last 511 days of the war in an underground cave system, with the women and children living entirely underground, never seeing sunshine or feeling even the slightest breeze. As the Nazis move in, the family and several neighbors from a nearby cabin are forced literally underground, into an extensive network of caves. The family must ration food and even their own energy since they cannot consume enough calories to keep them on their feet all the time. While food was scare in the town, in the forest is where the march to hunger really begins. The family has to stay inside most of the time, prepared to flee at any moment. When the town is no longer a safe place, Hanna’s family flees to the woods, to an abandoned cabin. Old enough to be pulled into the secrets necessary to keep her family and her people safe. Hanna is just turning fourteen-that age where so much of her remains a child still, and yet she is old enough to begin to understand what is happening. Rumors begin and mysterious people show up to hide in Hanna’s barn. When the book opens, the war has already started but is just beginning to touch Hanna and her family. The Shtetle sets the stage-Hanna’s family is more privileged than many, with a nice house and a father who is respected and needed for his skills by the non-Jewish families in town. The book is told in three parts-The Shtetele, The Forest, and The Caves. Of course, anti-Semitism wasn’t new with the Nazis–there were already anti-Semites in town whose feelings were exploited by both the Soviets and Nazis. Instead, Hanna’s town, while briefly occupied by the Soviet army, spent more time under Nazi rule. Hanna’s story is set in Ukraine which made me assume her town would have been subject to Soviet occupation–I know significantly less about the countries that came under the rule of the Soviet Union since Between Shades of Gray is the only novel I’ve read of this time period (though I am interested in more if you want to leave me suggestions in the comments!). The world continued to carry out its crimes above us, while we sought just to remain whole below. Stories kept us alive in our underground sanctuary. We swallowed them in place of food and water. I enjoyed both books and am happy to post these honest reviews. Thank you to NetGalley, Mandel Vilar Press, and Tara Lynn Masih for My Real Name is Hanna and Netgalley, Susan Hood, and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for Lifeboat 12. A hot second later, Lifeboat 12 popped up on Netgalley and I requested it too. I saw My Real Name is Hanna and knew I had to read it. And, thanks to the DBC, I’ve actually started reading more Middle-Grade and younger YA. I don’t know what it is about this time period that I find so fascinating, even after studying it for years in college. I’ve said many times before but I love a good WWII novel.