A Boy is Not a Ghost is an incredible story. This book is written by Edeet Ravel, who also wrote A Boy is Not a Bird. Both of these stories are about a young boy caught up in life during a war. He has grown up in the Russian city, Czernowitz. After his father is arrested he and his mother are rounded up with other people from the city and sent to Siberia.

Natt Silver is twelve years old as he rides with his mother and their neighbors in the cattle car of a train headed for Siberia. He describes in perfect detail the sounds, smells and crowded conditions on the train as they slowly travel across Russia for two long months. The food is scarce and the weather gets colder as they travel north. His father is in a Gulag or prison under extreme conditions. He and his mother do not know where they are going end up or what life will be like there.

We hear Natt's voice as he writes letters to his friend Max, who its seems has been lucky to escape with his family to Basel, Switzerland. Natt knows the Soviet police are reading people's mail, so he writes letters to Max in secret code, never really knowing if Max is receiving his mail.

It is incredible how easily a person can call attention to themselves by the authorities and how dangerous that can be. Natt gives us an example of this when he tells this story about waiting with his mother for a train and reading a newspaper, "A police guard sees me smiling and marches over to our bench. 'You two! Follow me! At once.' His voice makes my blood run cold. It's the tone guards use just before they arrest you. He thinks I was laughing at Stalin, or at an article about how great the Soviet Union is." Natt and his mother follow the guard and are interviewed. Giving the wrong answer could land them in jail or worse.

Natt and his mother are shuffled from place to place trying to find a place to live and work. When his mother gets a prized inside job, where someone is working inside during the freezing cold weather, and Natt is going to school, Natt thinks things might not be so bad. Then his mother is falsely arrested for stealing potatoes and taken to prison. Natt is really on his own. He must use all his cleverness and bravery to find a family to live with. He makes friends and works hard. He will need his friends and some luck to help him survive as he struggles to find his way back to his mother and tries to reunite his family.

Natt learns that he needs to have two sides to himself, to be an outside Natt and a secret Natt. He is going to practice not calling attention to himself, so that when he has to leave town no one will notice he is gone. He will keep a part of himself hidden from everyone. Natt says the life he is living in Siberia can make a person feel like a ghost.

This book is so beautifully written. It is appropriate for middle school readers and it is such an incredibly poignant and touching story that it is also an important story for adult readers. Ravel has written this novel based on the true story of her fifth grade teacher, Nahum Halpern, who shared stories of his childhood with his students.

This story covers the horrific way Jewish people were treated during the Second World War. There was the threat of Hitler and the Final Solution, which was the genocide of the Jewish people and there was Stalin who, though his campaign posters depicted him as kind man, was also ruthless and targeted the Jews and other minorities. Natt Silver shows readers how to survive the many challenges during these two major historical events.

In A Boy Is Not a Ghost, Author Edeet Ravel tells the story of Natt, a boy from Eastern Europe whose family falls under Joseph Stalin's brutal rule. After his father is sent to an infamous gulag on trumped-up charges, Natt and his mother are deported to Siberia. The novel tells the story of their journey, the hardships they face, and their quest to be reunited with Natt's father. When Natt's mother is tricked into stealing food so that a Soviet guard can meet her quota of arrests, Natt's troubles multiply. He must learn whom he can trust, how to "become invisible," and how to use his intellect and personality to survive. Throughout his deportation, he falls into the hands of selfish people who take advantage of his youth, but he also makes genuine friends who help him in so many ways.

While Natt and his mother are the central focus of the plot, Ravel draws in details about World War II, the types of people who were deported, and the ways deportees were treated. From the body-breaking labor they were forced to perform, to the lack of food and primitive living conditions they endured, Ravel shows the privations that deportees and Siberians suffered under Stalin.

Through all of the danger, abuse, and uncertainty, Natt remains hopeful, optimistic, and convinced that good people exist and will act with courage and kindness. Not only is he struggling to endure hunger, bitter cold, and possible arrest, he is also working through his own shame over rejecting his father.

Ravel's story has a well=paced plot with enough action and suspense to keep readers intrigued. As a protagonist, Natt feels very young, younger than the twelve to fifteen year-old he is described as. His actions and concerns seem more child-like, allowing him to make friends, have a romantic crush, and enjoy his life, even while his father serves a twenty-year sentence in a brutal gulag and his mother serves her time in prison. As a result, Natt seems less of the teenager growing into adulthood, and more a child, self-centered and happy to be comfortable, safe, and fed. His concerns for his mother and his guilt over the way he treated his father appear at times, but Ravel doesn't invest those times with the weight of emotion. As a result, the story is more the tale of one young boy's experiences during his deportation and less an exploration of his maturing. The plot drives the story and creates the interest, while readers may be left wishing they could know Natt better and see his growth into a young man of courage and integrity.

As a work of historical fiction, Edeet Ravel has written a story that shows readers conditions in Soviet Eastern Europe. The dangers and depressed quality of life are clear, and the sense of powerlessness and fear are genuine. As a writer of curriculum, I would pair this book with other WWII-set novels to create an educational unit with varied perspectives. This story would work well with novels like Sepetys's Between Shades of Gray or Hautzig's The Endless Steppe to give a multi-faceted study of the Siberian deportations that occurred under Stalin.

Based on true events, Natt and his parents live in Russia as World War II begins. Stalin has ordered men to be arrested and sent to Gulags (mines in Siberia with prisoner labor), and Natt's father is sentenced to 20 years; a standard for quota-based arrests and sham trials.

Worried about him, they are arrested, also sentenced, and sent on a nightmare journey to a distant and (almost the coldest) area of Siberia for reasons no one understands (except they are Jews by heritage). This has nothing to do with religion or beliefs.

I typically avoid books about the suffering endured by people during war. I already know much more than I can forget.

Natt's story includes how he, his mother, and others survived--somehow. But more than that, it's about the good heart of this young boy. How he helped and brightened the lives of others without recognizing the value of his gifts.

Instead of turning to anger or bitterness, Natt and his mother look for ways to be useful, or to avoid attention; like being a ghost. Their resilience is astonishing, but their ability to make lasting friendships is completely understandable.

Despite the cruelty, harshness, and horrifying conditions, the soul-deep kindness and sacrifice of some people--regardless of the personal danger--shows that goodness is a choice. Instead of being a depressing story, it is one of hope.

This is a book worthy of reading as a family, class, group, or individual; about resilience, developing personal abilities, friendship, dedication, loyalty, and overcoming fear. I highly recommend it, and applaud the author for her ability to share this story as it truly is; something lasting and triumphant.

5/5 Stars

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGally for the honor of previewing this ebook!

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