Description
Warsaw, 1942. Sixteen-year-old Mira smuggles food into the Warsaw ghetto to keep herself and her family alive. When she discovers that the entire ghetto is to be "liquidated"—killed or resettled to concentration camps—she desperately tries to find a way to save her family. She meets a group of young people who are planning the unthinkable: an uprising against the occupying forces. Mira joins the resistance fighters who, with minimal supplies and weapons, end up holding out for twenty-eight days, longer than anyone had thought possible. During this time, Mira has to decide where her heart belongs. To Amos, who will take as many Nazis as he can with him into the grave? Or to Daniel, who wants to help orphans in a shelter?
Review
28 Days gives us a look at the life in World War II from an interesting perspective, set in the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland as seen by 16-year-old Mira.
Mira is smuggling things from outside the ghetto walls to provide for her mother (who is not much assistance since Mira’s father died) and for her little sister, Hannah, who is Mira’s sole reason to survive. Mira has a boyfriend named Daniel, who gives everything to the orphans that he works with but manages to save a little time for Mira.
When Mira is saved by Amos - after he pretends to be her partner and boldly kisses her - she becomes infatuated. Then she discovers that Amos is a prominent member of the resistance, who are planning to take action against the Nazis. Should she help too?
The ghetto is so overcrowded that many are sent off to concentration camps, many die of starvation and dysentery problems, and many more still are murdered by their evil oppressors. But the fight that takes place in the Warsaw Ghetto shows that it might be possible to stand up to the Nazi war machine...
This novel is best suited to those aged 15 and over, as it depicts the true evil of the time, that is even being perpetuated against young children. It also demonstrates the immense courage and the capacity of the human spirit to hope and fight for survival, even in the worst of circumstances. I found it a real page turner that will be both enjoyed and educational to those 15 and older.
Reviewed by Rob
