Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2018
272 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
For fans of The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas comes a lushly illustrated novel about a teen Holocaust survivor, who must come to terms with who she is and how to rebuild her life.
After losing her family and everything she knew in the Nazi concentration camps, Gerta is finally liberated, only to find herself completely alone. Without her Papa, her music, or even her true identity, she must move past the task of surviving and onto living her life. In the displaced persons camp where she is staying, Gerta meets Lev, a fellow teen survivor who she just might be falling for, despite her feelings for someone else. With a newfound Jewish identity she never knew she had, and a return to the life of music she thought she lost forever, Gerta must choose how to build a new future.
"Starred Review. Generously illustrated with Stamper's haunting spot images and larger scenes, all in deep brown hues that evoke profound emotion, the book is a strong addition to the bookshelf of Holocaust fiction." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Evil that is impossibly difficult to comprehend and filled with word-images that will leave readers gasping. The author's dedication says it all, in both Hebrew and English: 'Remember.'" - Kirkus
"A well-researched, elegant, and fittingly melodic exploration of reclaiming one's voice - and the many kinds of faith it can spark. Back matter not seen. Grades 9-12." - Booklist
"A tour de force. This powerful story of love, loss, and survival is not to be missed." - Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The Nightingale
"What the Night Sings is a book from the heart, of the heart, and to the heart. Vesper Stamper's Gerta will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her story is one of hope and redemption and life - a blessing to the world." - Deborah Heiligman, award-winning author of Charles and Emma and Vincent and Theo
This information about What the Night Sings was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Vesper Stamper is an author/illustrator living in the Northeast with her husband, filmmaker Ben Stamper and her two children. She has an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from School of Visual Arts, NYC. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook @vesperillustration, and learn more at vesperillustration.com.
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