Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of White Rose by Kip Wilson. I thoroughly enjoy reading books written in verse by Kwame Alexander and Ellen Hopkins. Kip Wilson did a great job with this book. #NetGalley #WhiteRose

4.5

Thank you NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group, and Kip Wilson for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What initially drew me to this book wasn't necessarily the description of the book itself, but the fact that it is written in poetic form. As an Ellen Hopkins fan, I love reading works written in a poetry style. The problem is, some authors nail the craft, and some are just not good. Great news: Kip Wilson's poetic form is gorgeously dazzling, and not a disappointment! The only thing that makes this a 4.5 instead of a 5 is that there are some stylistic choices that can be executed better, and perhaps in the final version they will be altered. For example, when another person (not the narrator) is talking, the lines or stanza is indented and in italics, but so is the dialogue tag. Having the dialogue tag in italics too threw me off a bit. Another thing I thought was super creative was stretching out certain words with spaces, such as "l o n g," and other words of similar meaning, making the word literally longer or stretched on the page. This happens about four or five times, but the stretch is in a line with other words. This would be an even greater effect if the word was isolated and spaced out even more:

"l   o   n   g"

Aside from a few minute things like that, I loved the poetic form of this piece and the language has amazing flow. It was fun and easy to read, all while being an educational journey. 

This story takes place during World War II in Germany, during Hitler's reign. One of the aspects I love about this novel is its reflection on actual history. The end of the book has a sort of glossary that highlights who the people actually, historically were, as well as defining some of the German words (I didn't see the glossary until I finished the book, since it's e-book and not print. This wasn't a huge deal for me since I'm familiar with German and was able to figure out some words based on context). This historical accuracy and development for the novel is no surprise, considering Kip Wilson's Ph.D. in German Literature. 

The narration features a young girl named Sophie Scholl, an activist in the White Rose group--a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. Although this story is told from the perspective of one living during the events of WWII, I find that, despite there being a number of novels out there that feature this time period, this one is unique in its telling and resonates with events today.

As an English teacher myself, I know a number of educators who would be interested in this book for Literature Circles/Book Club Groups, and it's workable for grades 7-12. This book would also be a nice alignment to read in English class if students are simultaneously studying the Holocaust. Overall, highly recommend to young readers, Holocaust historians, historical fanatics, and educators!