title: A Faraway Island
author:  Annika Thor 
description: Grade 58In this gripping story, Stephie and Nellie, two Austrian Jewish sisters, are evacuated in 1938 from Vienna to a Swedish island and placed in separate foster homes. Twelve-year-old Stephie has promised her parents that she will try to ease her younger sister's way, a burdensome promise to keep. Auntie Alma, Nellie's Swedish mother, is warmer and more welcoming than Auntie Mrta, Stephie's more austere foster parent. At first it seems that Nellie will have a more difficult time adjusting, but the opposite happens. Loneliness and a sense of isolation engulf Stephie. The shunning and taunting of cliquish, bigoted girls intensify her longing for home and the familiar, but Stephie bravely perseveres, bolstered by the hope that she will only be separated from her parents for a short time. Unfortunately this does not happen, and the girls must remain on this faraway island. Children will readily empathize with Stephie's courage. Both sisters are well-drawn, likable characters. This is the first of four books Thor has written about the two girls. It is an excellent companion to Lois Lowry's <i>Number the Stars</i> (Houghton, 1989), Kit Pearson's <i>The Sky Is Falling</i> (Viking, 1990; o.p.), and Olga Levy Drucker's <i>Kindertransport</i> (Holt, 1995).<i>Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Where did he go…?
  
    
  
  Annja peered around the edge of the reef and the shadow was gone.
  
    
  
  It really was almost as if the unknown figure had disappeared right off the
  coral reef.
  
    
  
  What were the chances that he’d been taken by a shark? She shook her head. No,
  there’d be some sort of evidence of an attack. His oxygen tanks would be lying
  on the ocean floor. His weight belt would have been shredded.
  
    
  
  Annja’s mouth went dry and she glanced down at her oxygen gauge.
  
    
  
  It was running close to empty.
  
    
  
  She needed to get back to the boat. But in the next instant, she knew where
  the shadow had vanished to.
  
    
  
  He’d resurfaced.
  
    
  
  The boat engine roared overhead, its sound muffled through the water, but
  Annja glanced up and saw the white foam as the boat suddenly shot back the way
  they had come out.
  
    
  
  Leaving Annja all alone in the dark ocean.
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Titles in this series:
  
    
  
  Destiny
  
  Solomon’s Jar
  
  The Spider Stone
  
  The Chosen
  
  Forbidden City
  
  