The Impossible Journey

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Summary: Book Review for The Impossible Journey
Review: If you liked the book Angel on the Square, by Gloria Whelan, you'll love the squeal The Impossible Journey. The main character from Angel on the Square is Katya. The Impossible Journey is about Katya's children. The story takes place in Russia under the rule of Stalin. Katya and her husband are arrested by fake charges and sent to Siberia. The children, Marya and Georgio, go to stay with their nasty neighbors who only take the children in so they can have the family's possessions. The neighbors plan to send the children to an orphanage, so the children run away and travel an impossible journey to find their parents. Along their journey they meet everything from evil men who kidnap them to reindeer hunters who help them, their adventure getting harder with each page. The Impossible Journey was a suspenseful, good, book. I recommend this book to everyone who loves adventure, historical fiction, and a good read.

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Summary: This is the best book!!!
Review: The Imposible Journey is my Absolute favorite book. It is the story of a girl named Marya who lives in Russia during 1934. Her parents have been taken by Russia's communist government. Marya sells paintings she made to get money for the trip. Then she and her brother Georgi set off for the town in Siberia in which they know their mother is. On their "impossible journey" they encounter many things that could either slow them down or help them along the way.

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Summary: Great Book! But Not As Exciting As Angel on the Square
Review: This was a great book--full of adventure and very exciting. The children of Katya and her cousin from the last book-Angel on the Square-witness their parents being taken away by the new police instated by the Communist government of Russia. Marya and Georgi, the children, are taken in by their greedy and rude neighbors, who take everything from Marya and Georgi's family's aprtment, and plan to send the two kids to an orphanage. However, they escape by buying train tickets with a Faberge locket their mother recieved when she lived with Anastasia in Tsarkoe Selo before the revolution and begin a journey to Siberia, by boat, through the wilderness, and by traveling and living among natives in northern Russia in order to find their mother by an address they found in a letter from their mother. The ending of the story is heart-warming, with the discovery of their mother and the return of their father in a house in Siberia owned by an old woman who takes them in. However, the reunion is disrupted by tragedy with the death of their father. This is a sad book--but it shows that you should never give up what you pursue, and that if you work hard enough--you will achieve it.

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Summary: Good book
Review: Whelan revisits the Russian Revolution in this tale of two children who undertake a journey across Russia to Siberia to be reunited with their parents who are arrested following a 1934 rebellion. Resourceful artistic Marya and her demanding young brother Georgi fend for themselves against corrupt adults including neighbors and acquaintances, but also find friends in unlikely places, including a tribe of indigenous peoples who herd reindeer. The underlying message of hope and freedom make the large roles of coincidence and serendipity forgivable. Simple language and careful telling make this appropriate for strong readers in lower grade levels.
The idea that a Russian doctor would be fired for reading an American medical journal is as frightening as the thought of children reporting their parents as disloyal comrades. This historical novel serves as an excellent discussion point for the advantages US citizens take for granted, and may be a reminder in these patriotic and suspicious times of ours that it is easy for governments to use fear to mold behavior. Pair with Whelan's companion novel Angel on the Square for a more complete picture of life in communist Russia.

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Summary: Life in Communist Russia
Review: Whelan revisits the Russian Revolution in this tale of two children who undertake a journey across Russia to Siberia to be reunited with their parents who are arrested following a 1934 rebellion. Resourceful artistic Marya and her demanding young brother Georgi fend for themselves against corrupt adults including neighbors and acquaintances, but also find friends in unlikely places, including a tribe of indigenous peoples who herd reindeer. The underlying message of hope and freedom make the large roles of coincidence and serendipity forgivable. Simple language and careful telling make this appropriate for strong readers in lower grade levels.
The idea that a Russian doctor would be fired for reading an American medical journal is as frightening as the thought of children reporting their parents as disloyal comrades. This historical novel serves as an excellent discussion point for the advantages US citizens take for granted, and may be a reminder in these patriotic and suspicious times of ours that it is easy for governments to use fear to mold behavior. Pair with Whelan's companion novel Angel on the Square for a more complete picture of life in communist Russia.