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Like several of Elizabeth Wein's earlier novels, Firebird is a historical novel written for teenagers, about a young female pilot's adventures during WWII. It is one of three short novels written by the author for Barrington Stoke, a company that publishes stories written to interest teenagers but in simpler, more accessible language, for young people with dyslexia and other issues that make it more difficult for them to learn to read.
Firebird is set in the Soviet Union from 1941/42. Nastya is a young pilot, proud of her parents' history as revolutionary fighters after the 1917 Russian Revolution, who took part in the Civil War to defend the new regime. Now she is part of fighting a new war against the Nazi German invasion. However, this is a dangerous struggle, and the Soviet government has declared that any pilot who either retreats from battle or gets taken prisoner will be considered a traitor (and if they survive, is likely to be executed). Nastya's story is presented as an explanation to a Tribunal of her actions in battle.
I am not sure this narrative device totally works, as I doubt that wartime tribunals took the time to listen to such lengthy explanations. However, the story of Nastya and her flying mentor, a senior female pilot, is intriguing, as is the use Elizabeth Wein makes of a number of true stories about Soviet women's experiences during the war. She details some of these in the afterword.
The simple language and sentences here tell a complex and thought provoking story.
Firebird is set in the Soviet Union from 1941/42. Nastya is a young pilot, proud of her parents' history as revolutionary fighters after the 1917 Russian Revolution, who took part in the Civil War to defend the new regime. Now she is part of fighting a new war against the Nazi German invasion. However, this is a dangerous struggle, and the Soviet government has declared that any pilot who either retreats from battle or gets taken prisoner will be considered a traitor (and if they survive, is likely to be executed). Nastya's story is presented as an explanation to a Tribunal of her actions in battle.
I am not sure this narrative device totally works, as I doubt that wartime tribunals took the time to listen to such lengthy explanations. However, the story of Nastya and her flying mentor, a senior female pilot, is intriguing, as is the use Elizabeth Wein makes of a number of true stories about Soviet women's experiences during the war. She details some of these in the afterword.
The simple language and sentences here tell a complex and thought provoking story.