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The Story That Cannot Be Told
Ileana has been writing for as long as she can remember. But words can be dangerous under the Leader’s government; when her family discovers their Bucharest apartment is bugged, her father destroys her stories, an act that feels like betrayal. Sent for her own safety to her maternal grandparents in the mountains, Ileana finds life in their village idyllic; it’s hard to believe the Leader’s reach could ever extend so far. Then Ileana finds her Uncle Andrei, long missing and feared dead, hiding in the village’s old church, badly beaten. Soon strange men arrive, asking questions. Ileana begins to see the truth beneath the surface calm of village life, along with the villagers’ fear, and courage. An extraordinary tale set, the author’s note states, in 1989 Romania, during the final months of Nicolae Ceausescu’s reign, is interspersed with Ileana’s version of a Romanian fairy tale about her namesake confronting an evil prince. The power of stories, of words, and of resistance in many forms spills from the pages of a compelling, richly realized work. The result is magical, harrowing, and inspired. ©2020 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 10-13
Age Range:
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Families
Fear
Folk and Fairy Tales
Grandfathers
Grandmothers
Historical Fiction
Oppression
Politics and Political Systems
Stories and Storytelling
Publishers:
Atheneum, Simon & Schuster
Publish Year: 2019
ISBN: 9781534430686
CCBC Location: Fiction, Kramer
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