Reviews

After the Train by Gloria Whelan

hezann73's review

3.0

It's been 10 years since World War II ended. In the West German town of Rolfen most people are getting by well enough and buildings are being rebuilt. Peter Liebig is tired of hearing about the war -after all he was only a toddler then and it had nothing to do with him. Or did it? Peter has a recurring nightmare about a young woman handing him out in the darkness and being covered by her tears. Is it really a nightmare, or a memory? A letter Peter discovers in his parents room answers that question, but raises many many others.

I like Gloria Whelan very much and most of her books totally transport me into the setting. This one was OK. While I appreciated that it didn't provide any easy answers, I was never completely absorbed by it. Still, it would be a good historical fiction choice (for boys especially) for 5th(4th?) grade and up.

loveyourlibrary's review

This book didn't catch or keep my attention through the language or characters. I read more than half of this book before deciding this was not my idea of a Newbery contender. This book presents an interesting perspective on what might have happened in German communities in the aftermath of WWII. This still did not keep me interested enough to keep reading and find out the answer to Peter's secret.

annascottcross's review

4.0

How were German's affected by WWII? Were they all bad? What happened to the German Jews? This book answers all these questions and more in this story about a boy who finds out about his past. All that he thought he knew about himself was changed. From his parents to his heritage to even his religion. Everything. This is a great book about Germany a few years after the WWII.