Note: Read in elementary or middle school ( )

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The "Dear America" books were always a favorite of mine, and they are an excellent collection of historical fiction early chapter books. This particular book is written in the form of a diary that belongs to a 13 year old girl - Maddie - whose father is in the Navy. Maddie and her mother live in a boarding house with a host of other characters in Long Island, New York. Included in that host of characters is a mother and daughter who are Jewish and escaped from Germany. The story goes on to reveal Germans along the East Coast, and it primarily focused on the home-front efforts that Maddie, her mother, and their friends were involved with. This included sugar rationing, victory gardens, etc. I think it might be difficult to read this with a class because of the format it's written in, but the information in the book was great. Most WWII books center around the Holocaust, and this book presented the unique perspective of an American teen during the war, and it also gives an interesting glimpse into the lives of Jews who escaped Germany and came to America. It would definitely be a book I'd recommend for students to read if we were studying WWII. ( )

When I first saw this book I thought it was a real diary from WWII, most people know about [b:The Diary of a Young Girl|48855|The Diary of a Young Girl|Anne Frank|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327735300s/48855.jpg|3532896], less people know about [b:Normandy Diary of Marie-Louise Osmont:, The: 1940-1944|1042587|Normandy Diary of Marie-Louise Osmont , The 1940-1944|Marie Louise Osmont|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|1028988]. I've read both books, I like reading diaries, a personal look at history.

After downloading, I realized it is historical, young adult fiction. It is based on the account of Nazi saboteurs that came ashore in Long Island, New York.

Ms. Osborne relies on news reports of the times and her own feelings as the daughter of a military man to keep her facts straight and the narrative believable.

This was a quick enjoyable read. I think a teenager would enjoy it more then I did. I find these books to be very similar to the books I read when I was a young teenager. ( )

Like the other books in the Dear America series, this is a fictional diary of a thirteen-year-old living through some of the most famous and difficult periods of history. Of course, she is not perfect and writes about all the difficult things that go along with growing up. I loved these books at that age and would recommend them to any young girl.