This book was fairly short compared to other reads but was packed full of historical details and horrors. Set in East Berlin 1988, we met our main characters Kai and Ellie. Ellie is from our time period and by complete chance grabbed a red balloon only to be teleported back in time. Filled with mystery, historical fiction and magical realism, this book really does pull you in.
I had a hard time connecting with the characters unfortunately. The plot was also very thin but was interesting when it came up. At times, it felt as though the author was sacrificing the plot for the romance. But overall, a very pleasant read.

Moving story told across timelines; but the antagonist's motivation is a bit weak/unsatisfying once revealed.

Katherine Locke is quickly turning into an auto-buy author for me. Their books are always so thought-provoking and I always either see myself in their characters or feel some sort of deep connection to them. Also, I love that they don't shy away from big or tough issues, and I find that Locke always handles these issues with the care and depth they deserve.

My rating for this book is 4.5 stars. I really loved this story! I wasn't sure what to expect when I started but the whole thing took me on an amazing historical fiction ride with amazing fantasy elements! I was super engaged with the danger, the drama and the mystery. The characters were super interesting and kept me hooked into their dynamics the entire time. This story was absolutely amazing and I adored it! I was super upset about the ending though! I know the second book is a companion, not a continuation, and I wanted to know more! Can't wait to continue with the series.

The Girl with the Red Balloon (The Balloonmakers) by Katherine Locke is about a modern girl accidentally sent back in time to 1988 East Berlin. Ellie Baum is Jewish, and her grandfather was magically rescued from a death camp. That same magic is now being used by a worldwide organization. I loved the ideas in the magical worldbuilding, which involved a lot of math and some blood as well as balloons; the book also explored ways the magic could all go wrong. I enjoyed and was sometimes moved by the philosophical discussions resulting from time travel, and saving who you can save, and the many versus the few. There is a romance between Ellie and Kai, who is a ridiculously attractive Romani boy from England who aids the balloon rescue efforts. I was intrigued by Mitzi, also one of the balloon rescuer group, who is native to East Berlin but estranged from her family because she is a lesbian; I wanted to see considerably more of Ellie’s and Mitzi’s growing friendship.

I love this book so much. It's a lot, but it's such a necessary read. It's also hopeful and beautiful. Locke does a great job with dealing with time jumps and with keeping just enough of a mystery element alive throughout the plot/story. The romance is sweet and adds to the story without distracting from it. The magic system is so interesting and innovative, and Locke wonderfully navigates it and reveals it to the reader. The characters are complex, well-written, and have great chemistry as a cast of characters. A truly enjoyable read!

A disclosure first: Katherine is my friend and I adore her along with her cats. I swear on my own cats that this fact does not affect my review in any manner.

My alma mater in South Florida has a bustling German-American/expat German community surrounding it as well as a very busy, dedicated group of people who just love German. They brought Holocaust survivors to speak regularly while I was in school and have gone abroad every year since 2015, but one event I really remember was a showing of the German film The Lives of Others (a film about how the Stasi monitored East Berlin residents) followed by a Q&A with people who lived in East Germany/East Berlin before the wall fell. All of them said the film was terrifyingly accurate.

I know that was a long story, but it’s relevant. Reading The Girl with the Red Balloon brought that experience back in high definition. Locke evokes the setting and atmosphere vividly in such a way that anyone will still get a clear vision of how different things were in Germany just forty years ago; my own experience in college just happens to make that picture startlingly sharp. This is the novel’s greatest strength by far, making it a surefire recommendation for the the value of settings in YA. I enjoyed the worldbuilding and scientific/mathematical explanation of how the magic balloons work, but that setting.

The novel is a bit of a slow, ruminating read, so you may wander off for a while like I did in the middle of the book. Whoops? That may lay with Ellie, who isn’t a particularly noteworthy heroine but whose experiences as a modern Jewish girl in 1988 East Berlin are still so vital to the story. Something else of note: the denouncement of using the word g*psy to refer to Romani people via Kai, our sweet Romanichal love interest and co-narrator! It was a slur in the 1980s and it’s a slur now, so just stop using that word.

I bought this book’s World War II-set companion novel The Spy with the Red Balloon while still reading Girl, so yeah, I’d say I recommend this book. Also, the ebook is usually set at a good, low price, so buy The Girl with the Red Balloon to feed her and her cats? (That’s not an affiliate link I get money from, by the way. I just want to support my friend.)

A magical story that is incredibly well thought out! Everything is important and the story comes full circle, connecting everything together neatly. The writing style was quite difficult to read and I did find myself being pulled out by stylistic choices. It is a decent book set in a horrific time that is a bit slow to start but does draw you in.

I wanted to love this one so badly, but it just didn't excite me. I didn't like all the POV's and I didn't connect with the characters like I wanted to.

However, I am so excited to see this sort of voice and rep in YA. I don't know of a lot of takes on the Holocaust by actual Jewish people. I think we need more Jewish rep in YA. I

loved the unique magic aspect in this and time traveling? Sign me up. The plot was really unique, but I just wasn't as blown away as I wanted to be.

My middle school daughter loved this sci-fi/fantasy/historical fiction mash-up genre novel, and I did, too.
The stories arc together neatly and you are left wanting more -- perhaps the sequel?
Highly recommended for middle and early high school reading!
Thank you for my review e-copy.

DNF at 50%. Thank you to the publishers for sending me an ARC for an honest review.

This one's just not doing it for me. As a time travel writer with a strong knowledge of German history, I was intrigued by this premise, but I just don't think it delivered. The concept of the red balloon as a time travel device is interesting in theory, but is never fully explained, and pulls me out of the suspension of disbelief.

I found the character development ultimately very surface level, and the dialogue often times baffling to the point where I would reread it a number of times to make sure I understood it. There were some instances where information was dropped out of nowhere in really random places, like the very abrupt confirmation that Mitzi is gay, when that had no bearing on that scene whatsoever. I found Ellie a flat and uninteresting character. She's too comfortable in her 21st century privilege to the point of her detriment, in that she's too lazy and lacks the curiosity to do anything but mope around in her room. If I were suddenly bounced into 1980s before the Berlin Wall fell, I'd want to know everything that was going on and spring into action. I'm not here for these time travellers who have no curiosity for the history of the places they're inhabiting. I also got too tired of reading about her waiting to be told what to do, and every time she did do something of her own volition, it was to make stupid decisions she didn't think through.

I was interested in her grandfather's plot in the 1940s, but only because when I visited Berlin, it was to study that very point of German history, and had that background knowledge, but his scenes were too far between. I also feel like the relevance of Ellie and Benno's relationship is supposed to be a gigantic revelation, but it's incredibly obvious, so it feels like the author is stringing the reader along for no reason. There's far too long a stretch of nothing happening once Ellie winds up in the 80s. I want to see her out in the world, and exploring it, and wanting to learn new things. It just wasn't there for me...

What a magical book! Love how everything comes full circle and connects! Plus time traveling intertwined with magic! And that ending!!!

What an incredibly unique young adult, historical fiction. I'm really happy that I gave this one a try. Here are some really good things about this book:

1) It's short (256 pages!)
2) It's interesting
3) TIME TRAVEL!!!
4) Jewish main characters
5) Multiple points of view
5) Diversity (Jewish mc, Romani mc, queer mc)
6) Learning more about the Holocaust and the Berlin Wall

Overall, I really enjoyed it. It's such a timely book and I'm happy it exists. I will look out for other books by Katherine Locke in the future, without a doubt!

This book was one of my ALL time Favorites, actually a FOREVER favorite. Ms. Locke is a new to me authoress and I am super happy I stumbled upon her book here on NetGalley. The book was so perfectly descriptive and you felt everything, including being transported into a different time. The Historical aspect was so on point. The storytelling was quite unique and throughout the whole journey your interest never faded. The character development was so intricately woven, that the fictional characters stayed with you long after reading this novel. Cannot wait for the 2nd installment

While a good novel, it did nothing to overly excite me to see what was going to happen next.

Sadly, I did not finish this book. I couldn't get into the story and the pacing didn't suit my reading style as it just went way too slowly for me. I wasn't a fan of the time travelling element even though it was a fun addition. The tone didn't suit my reading style either. I went into this book with high hopes and sadly I was let down. However, I am sure that someone else would find this book entertaining.

It all begins with a red balloon and in many cases ends there as well. On a trip to Berlin, a modern-day girl follows a red balloon into the past and the other side of the Berlin Wall. Her experience brings new understanding of her aging grandfather and his tale of the red balloon.

Lately I've found myself drawn to stories set during The Cold War.

On a school trip to Berlin, Ellie Baum suddenly finds herself transported to 1988 East Berlin. Trapped in the past and behind the Berlin Wall, Ellie falls in with a resistance group that helps people escape via magical balloons. Ellie and her new friends must unravel the mystery behind her time travel, which proves to be more and more sinister with every discovery.

The Girl with the Red Balloon is a fascinating combination of magic, historical fiction, and mystery. I love how Katherine Locke moves between Ellie's story and her grandfather's during WWII. The family ties made the tale so much richer for me. I want to know where else these balloonists have been secretly working.

*eARC kindly provided by Albert Whitman & Company via NetGalley*

I'd once tried Second Position, but set it aside because of my meh mood in life and a reading slump. So I was slightly nervous, just because like, I want to love Katherine's books. Her writing had hooked me, and I knew that I'd read more of her stories even though I never finished the one above. And I'm glad to say that I really did enjoy this one a lot! It was a quieter, emotional read than I was expecting, but one that was no less impactful. It had magic and heart and bravery, and most of all, love. Between friends, between family, and between two people who find small bits of happiness in a chaotic and dangerous time. I thought the switch-up in POVs was done really well (especially Benno's short but heartbreaking chapters), and I absolutely adored the queer side character, Mitzi. As well as Kai and Ellie. Such a good story! Also, I feel like this is the first time I'm noticing the couple in the balloon. I don't know how I've missed it for so long, and now I can't un-see it.

Rating: 4 Paw Prints!

The Girl With the Red Balloon is full of magic, mystery, action, romance, and wonderfully diverse characters. Set in 1988 East Berlin, a year before the Berlin Wall came down, there’s so much history and devastation and love and hope packed into Ellie and Kai and Mitzi’s story.

The book started out a bit slow for me, but when it picked up, I could hardly put it down. The last quarter or so was so exciting I was stabbing at my Kindle pages trying to turn them faster and faster. Locke created a complex story that wove together the lives of several generations of people, from the Holocaust to Cold War Germany where a girl from modern times ends up time traveling via magic balloon.

Whenever I read books that deal with Hitler’s Germany in any way, I realize how little I actually know about the horrors of the Holocaust. The scenes told from Ellie’s grandfather’s perspective, which took place mostly in a ghetto in Poland, left me with a lump in my throat, fighting back tears. I knew even less about the Cold War and the Berlin Wall, and the intense oppression and fear people experienced in East Berlin. As I was reading, I kept thinking, ‘this is recent history. This isn’t even 30 years ago. I was alive when this happened’. Considering what’s happening in the world and the fact the US currently has a leader who has frightening resemblances to Hitler, this book is one that got me thinking, researching, and having important conversations with friends.

The Girl With the Red Balloon wasn’t just a story about the atrocities of history, though. It was also a story about friendship, acceptance, love, perseverance, and hope. So much hope. I know this is a story that will stick with me - I read it weeks ago and have thought about it every single day since. I can’t wait to read the next book and see what happens.