Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

As soon as YALSA announced the Morris Award finalists, I rushed to my bookshelves to check out the ones I hadn't read. And, um, that's all of them! I've been busy reading PPYA books all year and am behind in my current reading. So this month I'm focusing on Morris finalists and possible Printz contenders.

I don't believe this good book will win the Morris Award.  First of all, it's the kind of book that you hug to your chest and say, "This is such a good book." It's not different or unique though, although the topic is.  I was a history minor in college and I never knew about the Lithuanians who were deported during WWII and sent to Siberia.  Twelve years of living horribly? Completely lost to friends and family back home? Told to keep silent about their plight? Horrible!

Lina is a typical upper class Lithuanian girl when her family is taken from their house, shoved into a cattle car and driven for months across Russia. She starves, steals, and mostly tries to survive with as much of her family as she can. In the meantime, she finds love and learns how to live in the most desperate of times.