Hostage to War: A True Story

Never have we read a book filled with so much bravery, adventure, wickedness, love, and hard time. This book combines them all into a true story of a girl named Tatjana Wassiljewa. Hostage to War, a true story translated from Russian to English, is a wonderful action packed adventure story. The story starts out when a young girl around the age of 13, and her mother, father, (who has ulcers), and her 2 year old sister, Olja leave from their rented dacha in Wyritza to escape bomb attacks. They have nothing left except their love. Their dacha has been smashed, but Tatjana still has her important journal. Tatjana kept a diary first called, "A Diary of Happy Days." In the end, it starts telling everything. If WW II interests you, this book may be a start to learning more. Even though Tatjana and her family aren't Jewish, the story entails the life of other Jewish people Tatjana met. The Diary of a Young girl, Anne Frank, takes place in about the same time period, but deals with a Jewish girl. We enjoyed the entries in the Hostage to War more than this book. Another book, The Devils Arithmetic is a story about a girl who opens the door for Elohim, and is transformed into Chaya, a Jewish girl from the past. That book explains the life of Jews in an exciting, realistic, fictional way. Both stories are riviting. Tatjana is a persistent, strong, young woman that caught our attention. Her story will interest the minds of others as well. J.D.L. and A.B.

I liked this book so much. Tatjiana was so brave. I don't think I saw anyone that brave before like the time when she went to go ask for food. I learned that I am pretty lucky because I read about how she had lived her life when she was young. For example,she had stravd. Another thing is she worked so hard,how she would steal her food for her mom did not even know if she was still alive, still another thing is how she met that boy that was so very much nice to her. We are or should I say most of us live are lives well. I learned that you don't have to always be so scared in your life, try to be brave. You will live proudly if you are brave. I think this is the best book I have read so far.

I think this book was really educational. One of things I learned from this book is that no matter how old you are you could still go to school. My favorite part of the book, Hostage to War, is when Tatjiana found her family and she was really happy because she thought they were dead, but they were alive! Another lesson I learned from this book is that not every person is bad or mean, like the part when the military officer of Russia helped her go to school. I really like this book and recommend it to other people so they could read it and enjoy it.

This is my favorite book out of all the books i have read about the holocost!I think thatit was so because she made her book with a happy ending it was nice to see that she had the inner strangth to get up and say "hey,I still have a life to liveand i should do the very best i can to make it a good one!" and so she whent and became a teacher...and re bulit a life that hitler had taken away from her and so many others i think that if you like a book with a hero and some on that you can look up to and say "gee i wonder ifi would be strong enought to do some thing like that!" i think this wouid like this book just as much as i did. For I hope that some were in me i have the will power and inner stranght that this author had!