The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.
My Thoughts…
I am a WWII fan. I
love the era, I love the heroes, and I love learning about life in the USA
during the way. With The Last Year of
the War I learn about the internment camps and then I got the bonus of learning
about life in Germany as a US citizen while the war was still going on.
Elise Sontag is a wonderful character. Even as a child she had such great insight
into what was going on in the world.
She saw more than she should have, lived a tougher life that she deserved,
and still managed to thrive in a time when nothing was easy. When her life was uprooted she stayed
strong for a mother who was not able to, cared for her brother, and did her
best to keep life happy and easy for her family. She quickly made friends with a
Japanese-American, Mariko Inoue, which was unique since most children in the
internment camp stayed with “their own kinds”.
I found it interested how much the girls had in common, how much they
enjoyed each other’s company, all while having such a different upbringing. It showed how much a teenage girl has in
common with other teenage girls, no matter what their backgrounds are.
The Last Year of the War is an amazing historical fiction
book. It is the perfect WWII story,
with the telling of life in internment camps, life in Germany during the war,
and how life after the war was over was still affected by what happened during
the war. It is powerful, it is
emotional, and it is an incredible journey.
Purchase your own copy at Amazon or Barnes and Noble
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