After the Train

Growing up in the aftermath WWII, Peter Liebig is sick of hearing stories about the war and the Nazis. They are history and don't matter anymore. He just wants to move on. However, one thing stops Peter from forgetting it all: his nightmares. They are always the same: a crying young woman holding a baby boy in the darkness, and she is pushing him out towards the light. One day, while snooping through his parents' things, Peter finds a picture of this mysterious young woman between a stack of letters written by his mother and father during the war. The only mention of the young woman in the letters is vague and unhelpful. Who is she and what does she have to do with Peter's past? While many books are written about the Holocaust, this novel is about the impact it had after the war and, to some extent, still has on people today. A story of acceptance and understanding, After the Train is written by the acclaimed author, Gloria Whelan. Whelan won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in the year 2000 for Homeless Bird, the tale of a teen widow in India. If you enjoy After the Train, try Homeless Bird or anything else by this prolific writer from Michigan. -- Reviewed by Veronica L. Hernandez

Peter is a young boy living in Germany 10 years after World War 2. He is looking forward to his summer and just enjoying life. All of this changes one day when he finds some old letters of his parents. As he digs deeper into his past he learns that he was adopted. He also learns that his mother was Jewish and died in a concentration camp. Peter struggles to find his real identity and his relationship between him and his adopted parents become strained. This book is all about how learns to deal with this life changing news. If you're interested in World War II, the Holocaust or German History, After the Train would be a great book to pick up!