Andi's War

With her parents away fighting on the Communist side during Greece's Civil War, Andi fights her own battle against Aristo, the cruel son of the oppressive Chief of Police.

Grade 6-9-- The war against Hitler has ended, and Andi and her brother Paul should be enjoying a life reunited with their parents. Instead their parents go off to fight in the Greek civil war, leaving the two children with their grandmother. While on an errand for her, they accidentally fall into a cave which is filled with guns and ammunition. The children keep their discovery a secret, but eventually realize that these hidden weapons are to be used against the ruling Monarchists. Their grandmother's involvement in the struggle becomes evident as well; she is part of the secret forces helping the Communist cause. The political conflict overshadows every aspect of Andi's life. The police chief's son, Aristo, taunts her and her friends because of her parents' beliefs. Their tenuous situation vividly comes across in Rosen's lively prose. Strong characterization makes readers feel the frustration of the older generation who have experienced war after war and the confusion of the youngsters who have known little of normalcy and peace. Andi, a feisty, intelligent, sensitive youngster, has a sense of adventure which leads her to an understanding of the politics which shape her life. Well-written historical fiction with an excellent plot and believable characters, Andi's War is the vehicle by which this somewhat obscure period in recent Greek history comes to life. A first-rate selection. --Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale,
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Andi (short for Antigone) and her younger brother Paul have grown accustomed to being "orphans" in their Greek village just after World War II. Their parents are members of a communist faction vying for control of the country, while Andi's village is under the tight rule of the Monarchists. Representing the cruelty of that government's rule is the chief of police, "Old Cyclops," and his spoiled, bullying son, Aristo. But feisty, fearless Andi bests Aristo at every turn. Only when Andi is not around does Aristo dare to harm the person she has sworn to protect--Paul. When Greece's civil war finally ends, Andi has paid a terrible price for her fearlessness; the country has shed the innocence it had retained even through World War II. A story-within-a-story, told to Andi by her grandmother, opens the pages of this book; the story piercingly universalizes a civil war's sorrows by casting them in the light of a childhood game gone wrong. The methods of battle in the hills near Andi's village pervade every aspect of daily living--a lump of feta cheese from an elderly shepherd cloaks a message; their mother must slip in and out of their home in the middle of the night to visit as if part of a dream; an absent-minded schoolteacher brings news that the children's fugitive father has found safe harbor. The ending is not easy; neither is war. Rosen's first book contains a stark assessment of the losses. From Stockholm, Andi thinks of her mother, whom she knows is dead: "She was laid to rest beside Paul in the warm, thyme-scented soil of Greece, in the little cemetery between the mountains and the sea, and it is good to know that nothing will ever separate them again . . . Father says that I'll feel better. . . . But I don't know." Little is published in this country about Greek's Civil War, but Rosen's story contains truths--in a spirited melding of ordinary incidents and exceptional circumstances--that make it one of the most vivid books on war to appear in some time. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.