A Storm Unleashed
In Berlin, Germany in 1935, 12-year-old Marianne (Mia) Kaufmann is walking her dog, Max, when a girl in the Hitler Youth demands she turn over her beloved German shepherd. Mia and Max run away, but she knows she, her dog, and her Jewish father are in danger. Because she is half Jewish, her teacher targets her for abuse, and the bullies in her school comply. Her best friend’s father is badly beaten in the streets by an antisemitic mob. Then her father, a respected veterinarian, is forced to train an army of police dogs at the same time as the Nazis give his clinic to a loyal supporter of the regime. Other Jewish families in the city are leaving, but Mia and her father must keep their own plans secret as the situation becomes ever more dire for the city’s Jewish population.
As with her previous novels for older middle-grade readers Lisa and Code Name Kris, the Canadian author draws from her family’s World War II experience. A Storm Unleashed also contains strong connections to the present day in its depiction of a country falling under the spell of a charismatic dictator. Mia’s grandfather, whose farm serves as Mia’s refuge from the chaos and brutality of Berlin, observes, “I don’t think we will get another chance to vote and fix the mistake.” Matas parallels the training of the puppies with the transformation of the German people under Hitler’s rule. They are not born evil but have become first desensitized to and then active perpetrators of violence against those whom the leader has declared as enemies. Readers at the middle-school level will find much to ponder in this fast-moving, gripping, and often terrifying story.
