Author: Adele Dueck
Publisher: Coteau Books, 2005

Lisa’s grandmother, Nettie Pauls, is growing very old, but Nettie realizes she has many stories left to tell. One day she asks her grandmother about her life before she came to Canada, and Grandmother Nettie hands Lisa an old, worn, handmade book.

The book is Nettie’s diary, written when she was a young girl, and it tells an amazing story. Nettie lived through dangerous times, endured war, famine, and terror. She saw cruelty and violence but also acts of kindness and love that helped her survive. At last she came with her family, full of hope, to a new life in Canada. And now her diary passes that story on.

Canadian Children’s Book Center Our Choice Citation, 2006

See a review in CM magazine.