By Svara Jayasinghe
Imagine living behind a wall, with soldiers training their guns towards their own citizens. Eight year old Gerta, the main character in the book A Night Divided, by Jennifer A. Nielsen, is forced to live just like that. Set in East Berlin, this book will take you into the past.
One night, Gerta wakes up and realizes that a fence has been built around her city, not to keep people from coming in, but to keep people from going out. The fence quickly transforms into a concrete wall with watchtowers, and adopts the name the Berlin Wall. The worst part is that Gerta and her family are separated by the wall, her father and middle brother in West Berlin, and her mother, older brother, and herself in East Berlin.
Four years later, Gerta spots her father on the other side, performing a dance. She watches him make digging motions, singing Gerta’s favorite song. At first, Gerta thinks her father is telling her to dig for treasure, but she soon realizes that she is being told to dig a tunnel to West Berlin. After convincing her brother, Fritz, they start digging. Will Gerta and her family be able to run to safety or will they have to stay trapped in East Berlin forever? To find out, read the book A Night Divided!