Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Dec 28 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Starred Review It's February of 1942 on the Batavia island of Java, Dutch East Indies. Eleven-year-old Emmy is distraught, having just received the letter she has dreaded. It's from the Marlborough School for Girls, the best singing school in England, announcing her acceptance. But there's a problem: since her mother's death, she hasn't been able to sing and so is adamant that she doesn't want to go to the school, much preferring to stay in familiar Java with her best friend, Bakti, the son of their Javanese servant Ibu Lia. With an invasion by Japan imminent, Bakti astonishes her when he declares he wants the invasion because it will liberate his people from Dutch oppression. When the Japanese do invade, soldiers come to take her at gunpoint to Tjideng, a camp for women and children, where living conditions are deplorable. After more than three years, Emmy escapes, but armed with quinine for a friend who's sick with malaria, she allows herself to be recaptured at risk of her own life. Abendanon has written a searing story of captivity, based loosely on her own grandmother's life, that is notable for its verisimilitude and vivid setting. It brings history to life.

School Library Journal Starred Review (Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Gr 5 Up— Based on her grandmother's experience, Abendanon delivers a gem for middle grade historical fiction and World War II fans. Opening in 1942 in Batavia, Dutch West Indies—present-day Jakarta, Indonesia—the story features 12-year-old Emmy and her father, a rice exporter, who live among Dutch expats and Indonesians employed as their servants. When the Japanese invade, the Indonesians believe they have been liberated, and the Europeans—Emmy among them—are captured and sent to live in internment camps, where they remain until the end of the war. Alongside women and children with whom she becomes fiercely close, Emmy must persevere through terrible living conditions and hunger in hopes she will find her father after the war. Loyalty to her fellow prisoners gives Emmy the courage to overcome the internment and the atrocities enforced upon them. Abendanon brings a whole new perspective for readers who clamor for WWII stories, such as Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's The War That Saved My Life . They will love Abendanon's work, especially because it is based on true events. Back matter is provided to answer questions that will undoubtedly be on readers' minds. VERDICT An absolute must-have in all middle grade collections.— Kim Gardner

Kirkus Reviews

Eleven-year-old, Batavia-born Dutch national Emmeline Abendanon has been unable to sing since her mother's death.Despite the looming threat of the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), Emmy refuses to leave for vocal training at a prestigious school in England. She clings to the familiar, including Javanese best friend Bakti, the son of a family servant. But Emmy soon learns uncomfortable truths about her life of privilege and the systemic discrimination and exploitation non-Europeans like Bakti face under colonial rule. When the 1942 Dutch surrender results in Japanese occupation, Emmy ends up in the Tjideng prisoner-of-war camp for women and children, where she must find the strength and will to survive. Drawing from her grandmother's account of living in what is now Jakarta and surviving Tjideng, debut author Abendanon weaves a compelling narrative that highlights the experience of many white European and Australian prisoners of war. Yet, despite cultivating Emmy's awakening to a broader view of her position in the Dutch colonial hierarchy, the ending oversimplifies and elides critical nuances. The narrative also suffers from a lack of cultural texture, failing to convey the setting's ethnic and religious diversity. The author's personal and historical notes add some context but fall short in communicating the broader history of the Dutch state, the Indonesian archipelago under the Dutch East India Company, and the Indonesian independence movement.A flawed but engaging narrative that broadens readers' understanding of the geographic reach of World War II. (map) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

A privileged, implied-white European tween’s life collapses as WWII encroaches on what is known today as Jakarta, Indonesia, in Abendanon’s engrossing debut. Before her mother’s death in an accident, 11-year-old Emmy dreamed of studying singing at Marlborough, an exclusive all-girls school in Kent, England. When her acceptance letter arrives, however, she hides it, desperate to remain with her father in Batavia on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies, even as war nears. Papa, a rice exporter, books passage for them to evacuate, but Emmy, disbelieving rumors of an impending Japanese invasion, thwarts Papa’s plans, causing them to miss the boat. After the Japanese army arrives, Emmy and Papa are separated, and Emmy is sent to Tjideng, a prison camp run by cruel Captain Sonei. Overworked and starved, Emmy plots her escape, even as she grows closer to other Tjideng prisoners. The author juxtaposes Emmy’s advantageous upbringing with that of her Javanese housekeeper’s son who, when Emmy claims that he’s her best friend, replies, “We are not friends. We have never been friends. I work for you, that is all,” highlighting complex issues surrounding colonialism, racism, and subjugation. Steady pacing and well-developed characters with credible flaws round out this harrowing, high-stakes tale, based on Abendanon’s grandmother’s experiences. Further information concludes. Ages 10–15. Agent: Thérèse Coen, Susanna Lea Assoc. (Jan.)