The Darkest Evening.DURBIN, William. The darkest evening. Scholastic, Orchard orchard, generally an area on which fruit or nut trees are planted and cultivated. The words grove and plantation are often used when the fruits are tropical, e.g., a "citrus grove" or a "banana plantation. . 240p. c2004. 0-439-37307-7. $15.95. J Jake and his family live in a Finnish mining community in Minnesota, but his father, a dedicated Socialist, is determined to move them to the Soviet Union. The year is 1934, and Jake's father dreams of escaping Depression-era America and living in a workers' paradise. The reality is quite different, as they discover upon arrival in a logging camp in Karelia, near Finland. The deprivation and hardship are bad enough, but when Father is reassigned to a ski factory in the town of Petrozavodsk in 1935 danger awaits as well, in the form of the secret police: they can arrest anyone at any time, and imprison im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- people without a trial. Speaking one's mind can mean never being heard from again. First Jake's older brother is taken away, and then his father. Jake, an expert skier, decides to flee flee v. fled , flee·ing, flees v.intr. 1. To run away, as from trouble or danger: fled from the house into the night. 2. to Finland over the snow with his mother and little sister, and in an exciting climax Climax Following a protracted period of selling or buying, a point wherein market trends are retarded or discontinued. Notes: At a selling climax, the market is characterized by a trend reversal whereby the market begins to buy stocks and prices rise. they manage to get away to safety. A historical note at the end by Durbin, author of several other historical novels for YAs, tells more about this terrible time of the "Red broom broom, common name for plants of two closely related and similar Old World genera, Cytisus and Genista, of the family Leguminosae (pulse family). ," when Stalin and his Communist Party Communist party, in China Communist party, in China, ruling party of the world's most populous nation since 1949 and most important Communist party in the world since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. swept away anyone perceived as a threat: ironically, immigrants like Jake's family were particularly at risk. Some background in Soviet history might help young readers appreciate this story more, but they will certainly come to understand the danger and difficulty of life in that place and time and be thrilled by Jake's daring escape. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT |
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