Chaya is a Jewish teenage "courier" for the Akiva resistance group, sneaking in and out of Polish ghettos and delivering aid to inhabitants. After many Akiva members are killed, Chaya participates in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Though it acknowledges the horrors of the Holocaust, this book focuses more on action and adventure than most Holocaust novels. An afterword delineates real-life people and events.

A Jewish girl joins up with Polish resistance groups to fight for her people against the evils of the Holocaust.Chaya Lindner is forcibly separated from her family when they are consigned to the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. The 16-year-old is taken in by the leaders of Akiva, a fledgling Jewish resistance group that offers her the opportunity to become a courier, using her fair coloring to pass for Polish and sneak into ghettos to smuggle in supplies and information. Chaya's missions quickly become more dangerous, taking her on a perilous journey from a disastrous mission in Krakow to the ghastly ghetto of Lodz and eventually to Warsaw to aid the Jews there in their gathering uprising inside the walls of the ghetto. Through it all, she is partnered with a secretive young girl whom she is reluctant to trust. The trajectory of the narrative skews toward the sensational, highlighting moments of resistance via cinematic action sequences but not pausing to linger on the emotional toll of the Holocaust's atrocities. Younger readers without sufficient historical knowledge may not appreciate the gravity of the events depicted. The principal characters lack depth, and their actions and the situations they find themselves in often require too much suspension of disbelief to pass for realism. Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 12-16)

Sent away from her Krakow home in April 1941, 16-year-old Chaya Lindner becomes an activist in the Jewish armed resistance movement Akiva by October 1942. With features and coloring that belie her ethnicity, as well as fluency in Polish and a smattering of German, she can pass as the Polish Catholic Helena Nowak, which makes her the perfect courier. Confident Chaya is dismayed when she is paired to work with seemingly timid Esther, who possesses -every possible look and mannerism to radiate her Jewishness- and who is to blame for a failed Akiva mission. As they travel from a ghetto in Krakow to one in Lodz, the young women witness horrific events and undergo harrowing experiences before arriving at their ultimate destination: the Warsaw Ghetto, where the action culminates in the historic uprising of April 1943. Suspense mounts continually as Chaya survives her ordeals, gaining strength and faith in her mission. The courage and self-sacrifice of many characters is inspiring, but the book is unapologetically grim and violent, like the events it so persuasively depicts, and may not suit readers at the younger end of its stated range. Ages 8-12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (Aug.)

Gr 5-8 The author of A Night Divided opens a doorway in time to Nazi-occupied World War II Poland, quickly immersing readers in the perilous life of 16-year-old Chaya, a courier for the Jewish resistance. Her missions slipping in and out of Jewish ghettos and raiding Nazi storehouses are hazardous enough without the inexperience of new recruit Esther adding to the risk and testing Chaya's patience. The girls become uneasy partners on new missions when the two are the last surviving members of their resistance cell. Readers will empathize with Chaya, who burns with anger against their occupiers and questions those who won't fight back. But it's complex Esther who will linger in kids' minds. Nielsen uses this character to great effect, helping Chaya understand that violence is just one way to resist and that "a righteous resistance was victory in itself, no matter the outcome." Tension escalates as details of Esther's backstory are withheld until pivotal moments. The edge-of-your-seat climax places readers amidst the gritty, horrifying street battles of the Warsaw Ghetto and pays tribute to those who sacrificed themselves so others would live. A fascinating afterword profiles real-life resistance fighters the fictional teens encounter throughout. VERDICT Historical fiction at its finest, this informs, enlightens, and engages young readers. A first purchase. Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY