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Content snapshot
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Violence
Very heavy
Graphic historical violence — mass deportation, starvation, forced labor, and executions depicted
Language
Barely any
Minimal strong language
Sexual Content
Barely any
No significant romantic content
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Graphic historical violence — Soviet mass deportations; starvation and forced labor depicted; Executions — depicted; Lina's family separated — she watches her mother's condition deteriorate; Children in forced labor — the youngest deportees; Based on real events — these things happened to real people; An emotionally devastating ending
What this book is about
Fifteen-year-old Lina Vilkas is Lithuanian. In 1941, Soviet secret police arrest her family and take them east — part of the mass deportation of Baltic nationals to Siberia and the Arctic. Between Shades of Gray is a YA historical novel about the Lithuanian deportations, told from Lina's perspective as she uses drawing to record what she witnesses. Based on historical events.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Graphic historical violence — Soviet deportations; starvation and forced labor
Executions — depicted
Children in forced labor — the youngest deportees
Based on real events — these things happened to real people
Emotionally devastating — the ending does not comfort
Reader Verification
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