Her real name is Hanna, and it is finally time she tells her daughter the story of her life. Hanna Slivka grew up in a small village in Ukraine, in Kwasova, the eldest of three children. She is Jewish. She spends most of her time helping her neighbour dye decorative pysanky eggs and playing with her siblings. Life is peaceful and idyllic until Hitler's army arrives. Hanna's family must go into hiding to escape capture and execution.

Hanna and her family hide in the forest where they learn to make do with what the forest provides them. Winters are harsh and long, and the German occupation never seems to end. Hanna will have to be courageous, drawing on the strength of her family and her faith to get her through this brutal ordeal.

My Real Name Is Hanna is a short novel based on true events. While Hanna herself is fictional, there was a Jewish family in Ukraine that evaded Nazi capture by hiding in caves. The author, Tara Lynn Masih, was inspired by that story to create Hanna's story. It is a wonder how strong the human spirit is. In spite of the odds and brutality of conditions, hope manages to live on.

I enjoyed reading this book, however I found it to be a bit lacklustre in comparison with other Holocaust novels I have read in the past. While I really enjoyed the concept and Hannah's perspective, it feels as if there is something missing, something to make this book stand out from the rest.

Overall, this was an interesting novel based on the events of the Holocaust.

*I received a copy of My Real Name Is Hanna by Tara Lynn Masih from NetGalley and Mandel Vilar Press in exchange for an honest review.*

With thanks to Netgalley and Tara Lynn Masih

My real name is Hanna, is a very hard read dealing with the persecution of Ukrainian Jews during WWII, although my copy of My real name is Hanna was a bit on the choppy side with 'COPYRIGHTED' appearing on nearly every page.

I didn't finish this book. I think it just wasn't for me.

I don't feel comfortable giving it a star rating.

This was a very well written and we'll researched book. I am Jewish but I did not know a lot of this history included in this book. I thought it was wonderful but at times I felt it was a little bit too much telling and not enough showing. It was still a very powerful story.

Quite a deep read for a young audience but well worth the time if there’s an interest in history and stories of strength and hardship. It’s heart wrenchingly and beautifully written. .
I was so behind with my review that I finished it by getting hold of the audiobook.
Yes, I would recommend the book and am grateful to NetGalley and publisher for granting me a digital copy and my apologies for not supplying the review sooner.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of My Real Name is Hanna by Tara Lynn Masih.

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story about a fourteen year old Jewish girl faced with the horror and tragedies of Hitler's reign. In her story she deals with the stark realities of war, while still dealing with being a young teenage girl, full of large emotions and a desire to love and be loved.

This is one of those reviews where I recognize that I was having a Teresa problem, and not a book problem. I know that this is a book well worth reading, especially for young people. I know that the author worked hard in researching historical accuracies for this fictional story. But as for me, I just couldn't get into it. Sometimes books hit you at wrong times, and this is most likely just that. So basically, my review is worth very little.

I enjoyed this a lot. An interesting take on the survival of some Jewish people during WW2. The writing was really good and make you feel their pain and their joy when any. Makes you remember the atrocities humanity is capable of and that family should support each other.

It's been a long time since I've read a book in one day. I was captivated by this story of a young girl forced to live in the forest and then underground to escape the Nazis. It's a tale of both bravery and resilience and will stick with me. Also, I've read a lot of WWII literature, and I thought this offered a unique perspective being set in Ukraine and narrated by a child.

This review is a little late, but my uncorrected eARC was so choppy and so out of sync there was no way to read it. Any help for this would be greatly appreciated.

I just finished this on audio and I absolutely loved it!! Fantastic story and narrator.

Hanna's story hit me from the very first page. Masih writes with raw emotion and I applaud her talent. I was instantly immersed in the story: I could imagine every scene, and feel the love Hanna has for her family. And the capacity of that love is overwhelming. Hanna has the fiercest determination to ensure the survival of her family, which ages her beyond her years throughout the novel. 

This story is beautifully told, and the gravity intwined throughout is felt on every page. I cannot pretend at expertise on what work of fiction might do the horrors of the Holocaust justice, but My Real Name is Hanna is exceptionally well-researched and inspired by a real family's story, and I wouldn't hesitate to include it on any list of historical must-reads.

Readers will see that because of Hanna's age, the novel also functions as a coming-of-age-story, if a rather brutal one. It has notes of tenderness throughout, and the care Masih takes to develop each character should be noted. Her award-winning writing is clearly on display here, and her attention to detail throughout is immaculate.

5/5 stars. Gorgeously wrought--there's honestly not much else I can say other than simply: this book is a necessary read.

Brilliant plot, impeccable twist. I really loved the characterisation too. 5 stars, favourite of the year.

My Real Name is Hanna is a powerful and at times harrowing account of one young girl's experiences during the second world war. Hanna is living happily and relatively comfortably with her family in the Ukraine when the Germans invade. As Jews they have heard stories about what is happening to their people elsewhere in Europe so they decide to go into hiding with the hope of surviving the war. We see Hanna growing up in a very difficult and turbulent time and I was reminded in some ways of Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl. This book is aimed at the older child and teen market but I believe anyone with an interest in books set during that era will find it to be an engaging and moving read.

Since the entire book is essentially a giant story, it’s really a fantastic experience to listen to the audiobook. I highly recommend it. I did quite enjoy this book (if that’s a thing you can say). I mean, it was sad, it was depressing, and it was important. People are incredibly, unbelievably strong. If the content sounds like something you would enjoy, you should absolutely pick it up. If you might be sensitive to the topic, I wouldn’t recommend it. But overall I had a good experience and thought it was really well done.

This book made me cry.

„My Real Name is Hanna” is a story about Hanna, a 14-year-old girl from a Jewish family in war-torn Ukraine. When the Soviet-occupied country is taken by the Nazis it becomes less and less safe for the family of Slivkas to remain in their family home as Holocaust rages on. In order to survive they must seek shelter in the woods and then in caves some distance away. Soon hunger is their constant companion as cold winter days drag on.

In a way we have all read plenty of this kind of books. Especially if one comes from a country that suffered and was destroyed in WWII as much as Poland was. In a way this is a story I have heard countless times what with assigned reading in school mainly consisting of harrowing, war-themed stories. Now, for the most part I steer clear of these. I have just had enough.
Still, something about this one spoke to me and I decided to request it for review.

The plus side of knowing a genre thoroughly is being able, often immediately, to recognize a good book from its first couple of pages. „My Real Name is Hanna” did not disappoint and I knew I was walking into a story that would move me, touch the emotional strings that I last felt touched like 2 years ago when I gave in and read Jodi Picoult’s „The Storyteller”.

It feels improper to say I loved it but I did. It was a beautifully written story about a girl whose first steps into adolescence were marked by events no one should have to face. Hanna and her family had to, though. It is an amazingly researched story about courage, growing up forced into seclusion, belief and hope in a better tomorrow no matter what. It is about those in small communities who never forgot their neighbors and helped fully aware of the risk. About the hopelessness of war and armies taking lands from each other with no thought spared about the people who led peaceful, simple lives, minding their own business.

Nothing I read about in this novel was new to me because as I said, I have read it all before in numerous different novels about the heartbreak and crime against humanity that was Holocaust. But „My Real Name is Hanna” had folklore elements such as mentions of ‘pysanky’ (painted with intricate patterns Easter eggs) or names of meals I know of because they are part of my Polish heritage and all that brought a smile to my face. It was wonderful to read about things that reminded me of how so-called foreign cultures are in fact interwoven with each other. No one is truly separate and before war people of different cultural backgrounds used to live in harmony on these lands.

Even though the book isn’t a true stroy and there was no specific Hanna Slivka, it is no less true in a sense that it brings parts of Jewish collective memory together. There were families that hid in forests and caves, there was one family that survived almost intact and then managed the move to USA and Canada. So even though it wasn’t based on a true story, it wasn’t a memoir, it was still a testament to true events that could have happened and probably did happen. A testament to heroism and bravery in face of utter destruction.

I would recommend this to everyone. Especially to those who missed on „A Girl in a Red Coat” or other novels of the genre at the time they were released or later. Or simply those who want to learn something.

**massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

What a touching YA Holocaust story! I wish I was still teaching as this book would be in my lending library in my classroom. I am sharing this title with several teachers I know. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time, Thank you NetGalley and Mandel Vilar Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a moving story that engages the reader on a social emotional level and certainly a spiritual level. Many books about the Holocaust don't focus on Jews in Ukraine so this is an important title that deserves a place in classrooms. I'll be adding it to my book list for my course for teachers on teaching the Holocaust!

This is a difficult, thought provoking, must read. It’s always difficult reading anything to do with the Holocaust and saying that you have enjoyed the book, but it is important that we continue to read books like one this to remind us not only of the harrowing events, but as played out in this book, the strength, determination and hope that people had during this time,

This was a haunting book that I read quickly as i needed to know more about Hanna and her journey. A beautiful book that I have recommended to family and friends.

I love WWII genre novels. The strength, love, and overall determination to survive is everpresent in this novel. When Hitler's forces advanced into neighboring countries, many native people were forced to flee and hide in order to survive his reign, the Slivka family included. This novel tells a harrowing tale from another aspect of the horrors that WWII and Hitler caused, where even running and hiding is terrifying.

I received a copy of this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. This review is of my own thoughts and opinions.

Quite a dark subject for a YA book, the holocaust. Hanna of the title is a Jewish girl and how she battles to find her missing father after going into hiding when the Nazi's threaten their lives.

Its a reminder of how brutal humans can be and how resilient the human spirit can be.

Not an easy read, but very poignantly written and great for younger readers who will relate to Hanna whilst being appalled at the things which happened in this fairly recent history.

This was a difficult but moving and highly important read. Despite the bleak and at times harrowing content, the book is incredibly engaging and readable - I finished it in a day!

This is a celebration of the human spirit which highlights the importance of hope, love, faith, family, strength, determination and resilience. The depth of the characterisation in this novel helps to convey the important message of the book but also makes it an effective educational tool, encouraging readers to empathise with the characters (and their real life historical counterparts) and want to find out more about the history behind the narrative. It’s clear that a lot of research went into this (so it doesn’t feel exploitative) and the “A Historical Note” section at the back of the book is a great addition to the story.

A story of hope and humanity - I would recommend!