Originally posted on my blog at thebackpackreader.com

“If the story was happy, you’d care less about that tiny little bit of freedom . . . We wouldn’t like the daylight if it wasn’t for the night. We wouldn’t notice the stars if not for the endless dark of night. All the story, like you said? That’s the important part. The sad parts are all about surviving. We are a people that survives. We endure. We will endure this too.”

I’m torn about this book. Really and truly torn. On one hand, the subject matter, the concept, the ideas behind this book are fascinating and intensely moving. I have been somewhat of an amateur WWII buff with a focus on Germany (specifically children in Germany) for more than six years now, and have cultivated a deep understanding of the weight of recent German history through interviews with those who lived it, as well as my own experience studying in Berlin, so I loved the subject matter of this book. And adding in magical elements as well? Heck yes! On the other hand, there were glaring problems in the structure, characterization, and plot elements that made exploring these themes problematic.

Ellie Baum is a 16-year-old American high school student visiting modern Berlin when she is swept into 1988 East Berlin by a stray red balloon. She is picked up by a group of dissidents who use magical means to transport Stasi victims safely across the wall. But Ellie hasn’t just been transported across distance, she has also been transported across time. As Ellie and her caretakers delve into the mystery of her appearance, they begin to uncover a dark plot within their own ranks, and Ellie must come face to face with not only German history, but with her family’s as well.

I have deep family roots in Germany. My German grandmother lived through WWII before immigrating to the US in the ’50’s and in recent years I have taken the time to hear and understand her story. In the winter of 2013, I studied abroad in Berlin, Germany and this city with an unimaginably heavy history has come to weigh forever on my heart. How do you stand in the street besides the dual ghosts of Nazism and the Berlin Wall and not feel suffocated by the weight of it all? How does a country reconcile and heal from a century of darkness? If you could go back and change things, would you? Locke wrestles with these intensely poignant questions in The Girl with the Red Balloon as Ellie comes face to face with history.

But I think that is precisely where the book fell short. Ellie, as a character, is not very compelling. She reads as a stereotypical high school student in a way that is more frustrating than relatable. Though Kai recounts numerous times how marvelous and brave she is, the reader rarely encounters a time when she demonstrates it. There is too much time spent telling how the reader should feel about the characters and not enough time showing those strengths. I do think that the point of Ellie’s character growth was that she learns bravery and to stand up to things she thinks is wrong, but the emphasis was all wrong. Ellie does begin by falling to pieces numerous times, but she is also described as brave from the beginning, so I was confused as to what she was supposed to be. And her chemistry with Kai was almost non-existent. It was a classic case of “you woman, me man, we must fall in love” which was rather disappointing.

What I wanted to see more of was what went into getting people across the wall. I felt that we saw so little of East Germany and what it was truly like–the constant psychological stress of neighbors and family members reporting you, the sudden imprisonment of loved ones for no reason, the facades that had to be kept up to keep the Stasi off your back, etc. I wanted to hear those stories. I wanted to understand why the balloons were so important, why East Germany was a place people were willing to risk their lives to flee. Yet, so little time was spent on such a fascinating concept, and far too much time was spent following . . . Ellie, who was holed up in a house for most of the book. And then spends a lot of time mooning over Kai.

The most compelling moments came from Benno, a Jewish boy swept into the horrors of the Holocaust. Our flashes back to his story are haunting, lyrical, and intensely emotional. I could believe in the magic of the red balloon in the midst of the horror, could resonate with Benno’s choices and the way he wrestled with his faith in the face of so much evil. His story, and the resonance of history surrounding the holocaust, were handled in a respectful manner, paying homage to those who lived through such a grizzly injustice.

But in comparison Ellie seems . . blank. I think Benno’s story held the right balance of history and magic. There is a mystery to the balloons that is lost in 1988. Too much is explained about the magic, and it is no longer compelling. In 1988 the focus is not on Germany, but on Ellie and Kai who are not German. And maybe that is why this segment of the book fell short for me–because Ellie cannot understand what it is like to be German in East Germany, or to be German and a Jew during the Third Reich. To have love for your country, and yet to have that country despise you. Benno understands that. Mitzi understands that. Kai understand it to a degree, but not in the context of Germany. We get hints of it from them, but I wish it could have been more focused.

Understanding the juxtaposition of the Third Reich and the immediate division into east and west is essential to understanding German history. But you cannot compare the regimes and you cannot cast blame on East Germans for “not standing up to the government.” East Germany and its rise is so incredibly complicated, that comparing these evils is like comparing apples and oranges. Germany was annihilated by the Russians at the end of WWII, soldiers committing atrocities against the German people in an unparalleled rampage of revenge. Millions of German women were raped. Millions of people were burned out of their homes. The Russians swept in and annihilated, leaving no possible way to resist their new puppet state. Sometimes things don’t just happen because people are too afraid to stand up–things happen because people have no other choice.

Bravery and what it means to do the right thing in the face of history is so much more complicated than most of us can imagine. When Ellie blames Mitzi for not standing up to the East German regime, Mitzi immediately puts Ellie in her place: “I believe that on the other side of this, I’ll be here to make my country a better place, a place where anyone can be anything. You can be self-righteous some other time, Ellie Baum, but not to me. Not right now. I’ll never compare our suffering now to the Holocaust, but I’m not my grandparents.” I agree with Locke that the sins of their ancestors should not be pinned on the current German people, however, Germany as a country has done a remarkable job of memorializing and apologizing for what did happen. These horrors cannot and should not be forgotten and the question that needs to be asked is how can we, as the human race, keep such an atrocity from happening again.

One of the most problematic moments for me was the ending. I won’t spoil it, but the motivation driving the “bad guy” made me pause and go “seriously?” It felt like such a cop-out. I could rant about this in a lot more detail about why this was so problematic, but that would be giving too much away.

I want to thank Netgalley and Albert Whitman and Co. for kindly sending me this ARC e-book. This was my first ARC and I am honored to have been able to read and review this book. There were many moments that were truly beautiful, thoughtful, and evocative. But there were also moments that read like stereotypical YA, when I thought this book could have been so much more than that. I appreciate that Locke took on something so fraught with weight and darkness and the complexity of the human psyche, and I wish that more YA authors would wrestle with such poignant history.

THE GIRL WITH THE RED BALLOON is a tale of rebellion, magic, and hope that flies over the walls of history. Shiny, unique, and brave, it reminds us to remember.

I loved this book! Locke did a great job of telling an interesting historical tale without getting bogged down in details. And the magic felt real, with in-text justifications (small ones, but still there) that make it feasible within in our own reality. The characters were diverse, and Ellie's Jewishness felt very present in ways that most stories ever have; I am not Jewish and cannot speak to the specifics of her actions and prayers, but I enjoyed their presence throughout, without feeling like it was overdone. It'll be a wonderful addition to stories with Jewish characters. I look forward to recommending this to teens and adults alike, and to a future sequel.

The Girl With the Red Balloon Review:

First the first few paragraphs, I was hooked. Katherine Locke creates the voice of the sidekick character that we all feel like, most days. Ellie is relatable, and I want to follow her on an adventure, want to watch her understand we’re all the protagonists of our own stories. 

I’m a huge history nerd, and spent my undergrad degree in a European Studies program. German history, especially modern German history was my thing. And Locke’s novel is full of history, little bits, little offerings that make this novel come alive. And while this is a work that blends the real with the fantastic, Locke’s “Author’s Note” will unpack what’s what when you’re finished exploring her version of Germany through time.

Kai’s voice is fantastic, so different from Ellie’s and yet, in the same way, I want to sit down and listen to his adventures. I know he knows the ugly side of life, and it makes him vulnerable. 

Benno takes us even further back in time to 1941: his is the voice we’re most used to hearing when novels focus on modern German history. But what makes The Girl With The Red Balloon exciting is the layers!! And I love that this story explores what it means to be Jewish, and what connections to the past mean to teenagers like Ellie today!

One thing that I’m not loving is that there’s a lot of telling in the opening of the novel. Some of it’s needed to get the reader situated, but Kai seems to be telling us a lot! His motivation, his feelings for the cause, how Balloons work. And as a reader, I want to do a bit more work myself. Benno does this a bit too when we first meet him. 

Four stars.

This review will also be posted on Goodreads and Amazon.

I loved the premise, and the characterization was good... unfortunately, there were a fair number of problems at the sentence level. Much of it read like a very promising second draft, I wish it had been given a bit more editorial attention to help bring the prose to the level that the story deserves.

I see on Goodreads that this book is slated to have a sequel and OMG I NEED IT NOW. 

The Girl With the Red Balloonis incredible and wonderful and profound and thought-provoking and wonderful. It is DEFINITELY a new favorite book of mine- never seen anything similar and guyssssssssss I want more balloon travel asap. Nope. Not just little hot-air balloon rides. I mean, magical red helium balloons that teleport you across the walls that confine you, whether they be actual, physical walls, or, *cough cough more illegally*, time. Because, when you think about it, time is one of the tallest and most confining walls that we come across. If not THE tallest. 

Things I loved:
-DIVERSITY. Omg the pure DIVERSITY of all the characters. Ellie is Jewish. Kai and Sabina are POC and Romani (which is freaking AMAZING and can we have more Romani characters? Please?), and Mitzi is lesbian and she has teal hair and I adooooooorrrrrrreeeee Mitzi. She and Kai have the actual best friendship.
-That said, MITZI. She is officially my girlfriend. No arguments.AND SINCE THE BOOK HASN'T COME OUT YET, LET IT BE KNOWN THAT I WAS FIRST. MITZI IS MINE.
-I ship it soooooo hard, too.....
-Time travel. I'm a sucker for time travel.
-How many time travel books include East Berlin? HOW MANY? See?
-GUYSSSSS EAST. FREAKING. BERLIN. My family actually has a lot of ties to Germany- my dad was there shortly before the Wall fell, and his German exchange-student-brother was there that night- so I grew up with the stories. I actually believed that the USSR was still together until I was maybe nine, but I digress sooooooo....
-I speak a lot of German, so it was the best, trying to translate dialogue into how it would actually be, and then translating the other German words.
-Kai and Mitzi's relationship in general.
-Mitzi and Ellie's friendship. 
-More Mitzi. Mitzi is goals. Mitzi is my girlfriend. Just in case you didn't notice already.
-MMMMIIIIIIITTTTZZZZZIIIII MY HEART


Things I didn't like so much:
-Ummmm..........I'm not actually sure there was anything I didn't like?
-Oh, wait a second. It wasn't longer. That was sad. I want more of my girlfriend and my OTP.

Wow.

It's the next day now (I finished this at 11 last night) and I'm still shocked by how much I enjoyed this book. 

Do you like:
-Jewish main characters
-multiple points of view
-time travelling stories
-diversity (Jewish mc, Romani mc, queer mc)
-historical fiction
-learning more about the Holocaust and the Berlin Wall
?

Then you'll love this book. I most definitely did. 

My very small quibbles:
-I wasn't a *huge* fan of the writing style. By the middle of the book, I was used to it, but it was nothing outstanding in my opinion. 
-It took me a bit to get into the book. I was thoroughly engrossed after a while, but at the beginning, I was a little confused. 

Other than that, I really enjoyed it, and would highly, highly recommend you check it out when it releases. Katherine Locke has written a masterpiece that is especially timely right now, and will do a lot for so many people. The characters and story will stick with you long after you finish. I'd never read a YA about the Berlin Wall or even set in that time period before, and I am so happy this book exists.

The Girl with the Red Balloon tells the tale of Ellie Baum, a teen who inadvertently time travels back to 1988 East Berlin via a magical red balloon. While there, she learns that there is an entire network of balloonmakers, who are using their magic to fight oppression by giving the gift of freedom to selected passengers.

Well, that was a magical adventure, but that ending!!!! There I was, some tears escaping my eyes, and  then that's all Locke gave me. Well done, Katherine Locke. You have left me totally wanting. Kudos to you.

I shelved this book on my fantasy shelf, because it involved time travel, but with any time travel book, we also have some historical content. Most of the story takes place in East Berlin, and I was in love with this idea of the balloonmakers helping East Germans over the wall, because my family, who were in West Germany, actually offered their home to those escaping the East.

"If you give a girl a magic balloon, she'll rage against the machine."

But, Locke didn't just focus on the oppression of those behind the Iron Curtain, she also wove in the genocide of the European Roma and Jews during the Nazi regime of World War II. The character, Benno, was a Jewish teen, who was relocated from Berlin to the  Łódź Ghetto in Poland during WWII, and the chapters that were from his point of view, were often painful. They tell starvation, slave labor, sickness, death, and despair, but there were also these shreds of hope and beauty too.  

"If you give a girl a red balloon, she'll believe in magic and memory."

I totally fell in love with Ellie, Kai, and Mitzi. Each character was individually strong, but they were even better together. I adored the dynamic between Mitzi and Kai, and I immediately shipped Ellie and Kai.  I found myself very invested in their relationship. I don't know if it was this idea of trans-temporal romance or that I, myself, was so in love with Kai. He was so complicated, loyal, brave. He risked his life, so that others could enjoy freedom. He gave up his wants and desires, and assumed a life behind the Iron Curtain, in order to protect his sister. Just, wow!

"If you give a girl a red balloon, she'll never want to let go."

This book took me on a historical journey with a magical twist. It made me laugh, cry, swoon, and smile. I rooted for good, raged against evil, and was left curious for the next book.

Guys, do yourselves a favour; either go and request this book on NetGalley, or take note of when it is released (or do both, like I am) because it is seriously one of the most beautiful, magical, heartbreaking stories I've read. It made me cry on numerous occasions. 

This review is going to be all over the place because my emotions are all over the place. The ending is so perfect, but so sad and it just...gah. I'm crying again.

<b>"What could change if we started to measure society's successes not in wars won but in moments in which we countered injustice? When good did win out over evil."</b>

If I had to describe The Girl With the Red Balloon in one word, it would be <i>magical</i>. Ellie Baum's grandfather is a Jewish World War II survivor, and Ellie has grown up being told the story of how he escaped a death camp; that a girl in a purple dress handed him a red balloon, and it took him out. So when she is in Germany on a school trip, and she sees a red balloon, she grabs it, wanting her picture taken with it. She is transported back in time, in East Germany where red balloons are able to take people over the Berlin Wall, to safety. 

The love and relationships in this book are incredible. Apart from Ellie, we have Kai, a Romani boy who would do anything to protect his little sister, and who helps to transport people over the Berlin Wall. We also have Mitzi, a German girl with a family who can never accept her sexuality, partner to Kai in helping those in need of escape. They both fall in love with Ellie, in very different ways. 

<b>"I was the girl with the red balloon who shouldn't be in the black-and-white world of Walls and fear and lies. He was a kaleidoscope boy born at the wrong time in the wrong place, too bright for here, too much for everywhere else."</b>

I could share endless amounts of quotes from this book, but I won't spoil things for you. I will, however, leave these two with you, and urge you to keep a lookout for this book. 

<b>"Be good and be sparkly and flirt with a stranger, darling."</b>

<b>"One time, I spent six months back in time. I fell in love with a boy who had no obligation to love a world that only gave him grey skies and loneliness. I fell in love with a girl who loves so fiercely that she holds the world together.  I fell in love with believing in magic.
If you give a girl a red balloon, she'll believe in magic and memory.
If you give a girl a red balloon, she'll never want to let go."</b>

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this book*

I thought this would be a good story because of the time travel aspect, but it was difficult to follow and not as interesting as I thought it would be

DNF for language.

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