Words on Fire

A fight for freedom and identity

How does an invader keep a country under control, stop them from rising up against their oppressors? They erase their identity. How do you do that? You ban their language, their culture, their books...

 

This story takes place in Lithuania in the late 1800's. Audra's parents have a secret, but she doesn't know what it is until Russian soldiers come to her home, burn it down, and arrest her parents. She is given a package and told to RUN, through the forest she has never travelled through alone, to a town she has never been to before, and to give the package to a woman she has never met.

 

Audra discovers that the package she is carrying contains... a book! Just a measly book. And she doesn't even know how to read! Why did her parents gave up their freedom and maybe their lives for a book when reading in Lithuanian is too dangerous so they didn't even teach her how to read?

 

Audra decides to carry on her parents' work as a book smuggler and learns to appreciate books and even how to read. Then the real adventure begins!

 

This a great book for older elementary children or middle schoolers, although the whole family may enjoy it too.