Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko
Marking the 55th anniversary of the creation of the Berlin Wall, this epic tale extends across generations and unfolds against the backdrop of a dangerous Cold War Berlin. This historically accurate, action-packed, 3-books-in-one features teens and their family’s struggle living in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, from its creation after WWII, to life behind the wall during the Cold War, to the Wall’s ultimate and final destruction.
Both educational and exciting, Life Behind the Wall is a great choice for middle readers at home or school.
Have you been looking for some good, clean stories to help make history come alive for your middle school students? Do they struggle though with longer books? This book is broken into three parts, which gives you shorter assignments for reading. It can bring to life the way life was for children behind the wall in Berlin, Germany. I would have to say, my favorite, was the first story. It covers some other topics that we may want to bring up and discuss…polio, hunger and some of the bias against other nations during the war. This is one that will add a lot your home reading or for educational purposes!
Each different story covers a slightly different time period based around the Berlin Wall. It’s rise, between times, and it’s fall. It really brings to life much of the pain that was caused by this separation within a country. Often I think that we tend to forget about these historical events, and if we do not bring them to life for our children, they will forget as well. This book is a good one as it has exciting moments, and your children will learn without realizing.