Remembering the dEPORTATION OF tHE bALTIC sTATES
In the book Between shades of gray by Ruta Sepetys, the year is 1941, and the place is Lithuania. It focuses on a family who is torn from their homeland and dragged to the north pole over the course of a year, and suffers immense loss. It is told through the eyes of the daughter, Lina, who is 15 years old. Her brother Jonas is only 10 years old when they are deported, and they both grow together through their struggles while in the labor camps. They are orphaned while in Siberia. See below: the map of their travels across Siberia.
Storymap
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The book is accurate when comparing it to history. The day the family is deported is the same day that deportations started in the baltic states. The book focuses more on the tradgedy that this was, rather than the politics. Lina focuses on staying positive and hopeful that she will get to live a normal life again soon. We see her grow as a person while reading, becoming the caretaker of her brother, Jonas, while they survive in the labor camps. The book captures the hardship and gore that was commonplace during the deportations.