In the summer of 1939, Stephie and Ellie Steiner are sent from Vienna to Sweden to escape the Nazi threat. They live on a small island off the mainland. Eight-year-old Nellie adjusts quickly, picking up the language, making friends easily, and enjoying the company of her foster mother, Auntie Alma and her two children. Twelve-year-old Stephie has a harder time. Her foster mother, Auntie Marta, is a strict and thrifty woman. Stephie misses her parents very much, and she worries about them and how they will fulfill their plans to emigrate to the United States. Stephie does well in school, but there is a group of girls who taunt Stephie and exclude her. Through an incident with teasing, Stephie sees that her foster mother cares and that she has a friend. She is much happier.
Although this is a story about Jewish girls, the Jewish content is limited to anti-Semitism, and when the foster mothers take the girls to church with them. When the singing and warmth makes Stephie cry because it reminds her of synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, Auntie Marta is thrilled that she has “embraced Jesus so quickly.” The pace is rather slow, setting the tone of how miserable Stephie feels. The story ends abruptly, with Stephie no longer feeling at the end of the world. An author’s note describes the history of sending children to Sweden during World War II. The book is the first of a four-part series about the Steiner sisters. For ages 10 – 14.
