Spring 2004 Review:

Kashega is a small village of happiness and peace. It is a place to hunt and fish, for this is about the only way people can survive. The village is on the eastern tip of Alaska and a few families live there. A girl named Vera, who lives in Unalaska, wants to visit her family and friends in this village. When she gets there her mother, father, and friends are very happy to see her again. She is thrilled to be with them. On this vacation she lives her days to the fullest extent of happiness. Later, however, in June 1942 Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, and all of the people in the village must evacuate. But before they can do this, they are taken by the military on a ship called the SS Columbia. A few other villages are also taken on the ship. Once aboard the ship government officials tell everyone that they want them to be saved, thus the reason they are being moved to another location. No one believes this, but they listen to the officials anyway. When everyone reaches their first destination they disembark the ship and begin their new life. This destination is a temporary camp which is called Wrangell Institute, and everyone tries to live the best that they can. After they leave Wrangell Institute they move on to two other campsites, and by 1945, everyone was allowed to go back to their own village. By the time each returns to his village, they find very few people who survived. When Vera goes back to her village she finds a terrible horror, and therefore, she must begin a new life.

I think this book of poetry was a good one because it told about the Aleutian people of Alaska and how they had to survive in different surroundings. However, I did not expect that this book would be free verse poetry. This type of poetry is all in its own category, and it takes a little bit more thought to truly like it. I would recommend this book to grades 7 through 12, or it can be for anyone who wants to learn about the Aleutian people and how they survived World War II.

~Joy Mistovich, 8th Grade, Boardman Center Middle School, Boardman, Ohio