A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen

A wonderfully-written historical fiction novel about the creation of the Berlin Wall, A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen (Lexile: 810; Interest Level: Grades 3-6) tells the story of a young girl whose family is separated the night the wall was built through Berlin, separating the East and West sides.  Gerta doesn't understand why the wall, built first as a barbed wire fence, needed to be constructed, nor why it meant that her father and brother who had gone to the west looking for work, couldn't just cross it and come home.  But over the next few years, the wall is built up bigger and sturdier, and she comes to understand that the government wanted to keep her enclosed inside of it.  The more she believes this, the more she is desperate to find a way out.  Then she sees her brother, briefly, on the other side of the wall, and she begins to hope that maybe it will be possible.  Very well-told, this is a story that will certainly broaden the reader's understanding of history.  I really enjoyed the read.  (336 p.)

---