Review: A Storm Unleashed
A Storm Unleashed
by Carol Matas
Scholastic Canada, 2025
Category: Middle Grade
Reviewer: Merle Eisman Carrus
Carol Matas has given a wonderful gift to middle grade readers and anyone else who is interested in the history of Germany leading up to the Holocaust. Her book, The Storm Unleashed, shows how one man with a small group of followers can gather momentum and create a community of hate toward another group of the society.
Mia and her father live in an apartment building in Berlin with their Jewish neighbors. Her friend Frieda also lives with her family in the building. They have grown up here with the freedom to walk to the park and to school. Her father is a veterinarian and Mia has a beautiful German shepherd named Max. Freida attends a Jewish school, Mia goes to the local public school.
Now as Hitler comes to power, Mia is aware of her life changing as the country moves from a democracy to fascist regime, antisemitism is rising as the Jews become "the enemy." In school, friends start to ignore her, other students bully her. The teacher is teaching fascist doctrine and uses Mia as an example of negative lessons about Jewish people.
Mia is unique because her mother, who died years earlier, was not Jewish and her father is Jewish. She has an aunt and grandparents who are Aryan and live in the country. Mia wrestles with her feelings of the unfairness of the world she is caught up in. Why must she be treated cruelly when she is only half Jewish? Her father has found a way for them to stay safe for a while by helping to train the Nazis army's dogs. Her grandparents offer some safety in the country.
As the pressure builds and it becomes too dangerous, Jews begin to leave Germany. As some of the neighbors are leaving the country, Mia and Freida make a plan for their families to also stay safe. The plan is risky and Mia struggles with the choices she has to make.
The reader will be on the edge of their seat, concerned about Mia and her family and their safety. This is an enthralling and all-consuming novel that exposes how a dictator can come to power.
This book shows the unexpected realities that faced the citizens of Germany, making them choose between being friends with their neighbors or following the propaganda and turning against their neighbors. It gives a realistic view of how even non-religious Jewish citizens were in danger. There were also people who assisted Jews in hiding and escaping the Nazi evil. There is no religious content in the book. This book gives a very clear understanding of what it felt like to be Jewish during this time period in Europe.
Mia and her father live in an apartment building in Berlin with their Jewish neighbors. Her friend Frieda also lives with her family in the building. They have grown up here with the freedom to walk to the park and to school. Her father is a veterinarian and Mia has a beautiful German shepherd named Max. Freida attends a Jewish school, Mia goes to the local public school.
Now as Hitler comes to power, Mia is aware of her life changing as the country moves from a democracy to fascist regime, antisemitism is rising as the Jews become "the enemy." In school, friends start to ignore her, other students bully her. The teacher is teaching fascist doctrine and uses Mia as an example of negative lessons about Jewish people.
Mia is unique because her mother, who died years earlier, was not Jewish and her father is Jewish. She has an aunt and grandparents who are Aryan and live in the country. Mia wrestles with her feelings of the unfairness of the world she is caught up in. Why must she be treated cruelly when she is only half Jewish? Her father has found a way for them to stay safe for a while by helping to train the Nazis army's dogs. Her grandparents offer some safety in the country.
As the pressure builds and it becomes too dangerous, Jews begin to leave Germany. As some of the neighbors are leaving the country, Mia and Freida make a plan for their families to also stay safe. The plan is risky and Mia struggles with the choices she has to make.
The reader will be on the edge of their seat, concerned about Mia and her family and their safety. This is an enthralling and all-consuming novel that exposes how a dictator can come to power.
This book shows the unexpected realities that faced the citizens of Germany, making them choose between being friends with their neighbors or following the propaganda and turning against their neighbors. It gives a realistic view of how even non-religious Jewish citizens were in danger. There were also people who assisted Jews in hiding and escaping the Nazi evil. There is no religious content in the book. This book gives a very clear understanding of what it felt like to be Jewish during this time period in Europe.
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Reviewer Merle Eisman Carrus resides in New Hampshire and writes book reviews for the NH Jewish Reporter newspaper. and other publications. She is a graduate of Emerson College and received her Masters of Jewish Studies from Hebrew College. She leads books discussion groups and author interviews. She blogs her book reviews at biteofthebookworm.blogspot.com
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