Defy the Night

I received a copy of DEFY THE NIGHT by Heather Munn and Lydia Munn.  This book had a lot that I truly enjoyed.  For one thing, I’d read their previous novel HOW HUGE THE NIGHT and loved it.  I’ve recommended it to many people, and now I can recommend this novel as well.

For another thing, I love history.  I read a great deal of historical fiction, especially stories centered on the Holocaust.  The year is 1941 and Magali, a fifteen-year-old girl, helps to smuggle refugee children.  I’m glad that this story is written for teenagers.  They read about World War II in school, but books like DEFY THE NIGHT help to bring home the horrors.  The story helps make the experiences real.  It will especially mean something since it is a child helping other children.  On television and in movies, usually the children must turn to adult figures.  It showed the strength that one girl can have when faced with evil. 

This is the type of book that haunts you.  I read it quickly so I could pass it on to a friend who was moving away, but I can still remember many of the scenes and I often find myself thinking about the characters.