The Girl with the Red Balloon

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

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this book on my fantasy shelf, because it involved time travel, but with any time travel book, we also have some historical content.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.

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

"The Girl with the Red Balloon" is a beautifully written historical fiction fantasy book with a side of sci-fi. I usually don't venture into fantasy or magic but the setting of 1988 East Berlin sparked my interest in this book. I received an ARC from Netgalley and I'm glad I didn't let it sit in my device too long. Although I felt like the storyline dragged a bit towards the middle, there was still enough magic in the writing to have me finish in two days. I'm already looking forward to the sequel and I'm not usually into book series.

Wow. When I first started reading this book I was a little apprehensive. It was slightly out of my comfort zone, but I was ready to give it a go. I really was not disappointed. What the book gave me was far more than I expected. I loved the characters, they were well described and were easy to imagine. The plot was something original, something new, and one that had me a little stunned at the end. I did not see that coming. It's been a while since I book has surprised me and that is a very good thing.
I adored this book, and I am already recommending it to friends. It has magic, history, and adventure. A perfect combination.

This book is wonderful - very fresh and unique. Historical in a time period and setting rarely explored in YA books. Very unique magic system. Lots of diversity that felt authentic and well-researched (though I am not one of the marginalized groups represented so can't say for sure). This was a beautifully written, carefully crafted story.

Ah-Mazing!!! This is going to easily be one of my favorite book of 2017! Everything was perfect in this book. I could not put it down and read in two days despite being super busy. I am so impressed with the writing. It was told from the viewpoint of three main characters and the transition between them was flawless.

A 16 year old girl, Ellie, knew her grandfather survived the Holocaust and mentioned it was all because of a girl giving him a red balloon but Ellie thought he was crazy. It turns out there is more to that story and her grandfather wasn't just trying to entertain her. While in Germany on a school trip, a red balloon suddenly appears. Ellie touches the balloon and is pulled back in time to 1988 East Berlin Germany, with the Wall still standing. She has to figure out how this happened and how to get back. There are many twists and turns to keep you glued to the pages.

I was hooked from the very beginning and never felt that the book had a lull. It is an encouraging story about fighting for what is right. Its about family and loving them despite the cost. There is a love interest but it doesn't overpower the story. This was the first book in a long time that I read where the characters aren't blinded stupid by their emotions. It feels real. The author's notes mention that most of this did happen in real life but not with magic and red balloons.

My favorite quote from the book: "The people never mentioned in the history books still made history." There is so much that is still unknown about what happened during the holocaust and there are so many that are not in the history books. I am thrilled to find out that this is going to be a series and can't wait to see what happens next.

I loved this book. Everything about it was so so good, and it was really enjoyable, even if I did take longer to finish it than I might have (reading slumps come at the worst time).

The Girl with the Red Balloon tells the story of Ellie Baum, who is accidentally transported back in time to 1988 East Germany when she takes hold of a red balloon. She finds out there is a group of people who work to help those stuck in East Germany escape to West Germany, using such balloons, but the one that transported Ellie back didn't work as it was supposed to.

The premise of this story is so original and it's written so well too. I loved all of the characters, especially Mitzi, Kai, and Ellie, and I'm sad this is just a standalone book. I can totally understand why it would be but that doesn't stop me wishing there was more from these characters.

If anything, there was just a bit too little action for me, but then again I need action almost every page because I'm so impatient and get bored so easily. It helped that the chapters alternated between different characters' points of view, though.

The ending was perhaps a little abrupt - they seem to be slowly working their way to a conclusion, and then all of a sudden everything's happening, and just as suddenly it's done. But that besides, I didn't have a problem with the pacing of the book.

What if there were a group of magicians responsible for getting people out of war zones and oppression to safety? This idea is central to Locke’s premise, and delivers well in the two plot lines she puts forth in this book (one during WWII and one in 1988 Berlin).

When a balloon designed by the magician balloonmakers (the Schöpfers) goes awry, main character Ellie travels from the current day, on accident, to 1988 Berlin, where she learns more about her grandfather’s Holocaust past and her own abilities. She’s rescued by Kai, the Romani love interest and an assistant to the Schopfers, and Mitzi, the headstrong German friend. The chemistry between these three characters make every scene of this book sparkle.

Some of the strongest elements of this book are its musings on identity and the past. In this time of social upheaval in the real world, it’s satisfying to see Ellie come to grips with her identity a 21st century teen in a 20th century world. Locke doesn’t shy away from nuances of religious and sexual identity throughout, much to the benefit of the characters. By the end of the book, I really “knew” Ellie.

While some of the finer plot points later on seemed a little rushed to me (or perhaps I was in such a hurry to find out the exciting conclusion), I loved the premise and its delivery. Here’s hoping for more books in this universe!

Look out for this book in September. It will not appear on a red balloon (probably), but you’ll still want a way to make sure it’s in your hands.

There are so many wonderful things about this book. Overall, the story of survival and the dedication of those willing to help people trapped in dangerous and oppressive conditions is heartwarming. The story flows like a balloon floating in the sky. The plot was clear and well written and pulled us along as we fought along with the characters to get Ellie Baum, one of three main characters, home. We are quickly introduced to the six main and secondary characters whose relationships with each other are subtle yet complex. They are well developed with strengths, weaknesses, and strong motivations.

In my travels, I spent some time in Berlin, after the wall fell, and even then was astonished at the stark contrast between the east and west. Locke describes the dismal and depressing East Berlin with such clarity, as I read, the images in my mind were gray.

Yet there were the red balloons. The balloons and the magic written on them floated in and out of the past joining the stories. They brought color and hope for the characters to the very last sentence.

This novel was SO interesting! Being able to read from the point of view of someone on the other side of the Berlin Wall in the 80's was just insane. I'm really into history, so historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and I've never read a story set in this time. I really loved the religious diversity, and diversity in general, in this book. It will really speak to teens who are lesbian and Jewish. The characters were relatable and fun. The magic aspect of the book, though kind of confusing for me at first, was a fun twist on such an awful topic at hand with the Holocaust and dictatorship.

This book hit me hard, it's such an emotional story, it made such an impact on me, It had an absolutely amazing author who wrote a beautifully woven plot. like non other. I'm not normally someone who reads a little of time travel books because they usually leave me confused but this one was the exact the opposite, this is one everyone should read.

The following will be posted on my blog, The Crown of Books on July 1st, 2017 around 10AM EST.

"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."
When I first came across this book, I thought it was just another time-traveling story. After getting the full idea, I realized that it was not just a time-traveling story. It is a time-traveling story involved with magic and I knew that it was going to be different. This was definitely going to be interesting.

"If you give a girl a magic balloon, she'll become something else."
In The Girl with the Red Balloon, sixteen-year-old Ellie is on a trip in Germany with a group of students and her best friend. When she notices a red balloon, a memory comes to her about a discussion she had with her grandfather and asks for a picture with the balloon to send to him. When she takes a hold onto the balloon, she disappears and reappears in 1988 East Berlin.

"If you give a girl a magic balloon, she will burn down the world."

One of the first things that I was impressed was the diversity in the book. There's Jewish characters, Romani characters, and even a queer character. Along with all the diversity, there is plenty of POV's as well. In the story, there are three characters who have their own POV's. Of course, Ellie is one of the main POV's. The other two belong to a Jewish character and a Romani character. You'll quickly notice that between the other two characters, the time periods are different. One is set in 1988 and the other is set in the early 1900's.

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

When I first came across the different time periods, I was sort of confused on what the purpose was. There didn't seem to have an overall connection other than the magic that was involved in both time periods. Later on the story, more clues started dropping but some you do not realize until much later in the book. What is the connection exactly? I'll leave that for you to find out. All I can tell you that it is a good one. Almost sort of like a twist.

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

The Girl with the Red Balloon is great story and magical. There is not much that I found wrong with the story and I just thought everything was right. Nothing was to much or to little, just perfect. I can pretty much guarantee anyone that they'll like this book if they like anything among time travel, magic, and/or some historical fiction. Pick up this book. It'll be a good one. Also, this book is both a part of a series and is a standalone. The author explained that the next book takes place in the same universe but it is not a sequel and it only features one minor character. Therefore, this book also a standalone.

Magical and heartbreaking. I loved the relationships, especially Kai because he would do anything to protect his little sister and it showed in great detail how much these people struggled and how important this event in time was so important.

The Girl with the Red Balloon is a YA urban fantasy time travelling novel set in Berlin. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm sold based on that concept alone.

Ellie Baum, an American Jewish teenager, visits 21st century Berlin on a school trip, excited but slightly apprehensive as she recalls her grandfather's Holocaust-formed apprehensions about the German people. She spots a floating red balloon, and, recalling grandpa's description of beautiful days as "balloon days", asks her friend to take a photo of her as she grabs it... and, touching it, is pulled into night-time 1980s East Berlin. There, she meets a gypsy boy, a lesbian counterculture girl, and a conspiracy to smuggle persecuted people out of East Germany by means of magical balloons. Time-travel, it turns out, had not been a part of the plan.

The book is rich in atmosphere and detail - clearly, Katherine Locke has visited Berlin, and read up about history. It's also obvious that she knows a little German (but isn't at native-speaker-level), as she sprinkles German words and phrases into the book. The latter works up to a point: for any non-German-speakers, it undoubtedly adds to the richness of the details. To native speakers, her choice of words jars a bit, especially the repeated use of "Schöpfers", meaning "makers". Unfortunately, "Schöpfer" is used almost exclusively to refer to God as the creator. Similarly, her attempt at a compound noun is a bit befuddled.

When it comes to describing East Germany (and, in flashbacks to history, Jewish ghettos and concentration camps), the story feels grim and very claustrophobic. There's no way around the grimness for the scenes set in the Holocaust, but my impression is that the grimness of the DDR may well be overplayed in the novel. Germany is an odd case - because it reunited the communist, dictatorship East with the liberal democratic West, the transition was different from other countries. Because of the WW2 history, (West) Germany has a very self-conscious approach to looking at its history - so there are museums and memorials and movies about the horrors of the DDR. Other 'East European' countries also transitioned from Communist dictatorships to democracies, but didn't necessarily put the same amount of money, effort and cultural navel-gazing into looking at their past regimes. The result is perhaps a distortion of perception: Life in East Germany was no walk in the park, but it wasn't more terrible than life in any other country behind the Iron Curtain.

In terms of freedoms, living in the DDR probably wasn't worse than life today in Egypt or Cuba. In some areas of life, I suspect the likes of Egypt and Cuba today are less accommodating than the DDR had been. For example, I was a bit surprised that Mitzi, the lesbian, feared persecution, or that a pregnant woman out of wedlock would have been in terrible trouble: the DDR had a reputation for being ahead of West Germany in women's equality & sexual promiscuity / sex-positiveness. For example, the DDR 'legalised' homosexuality in 1957, 12 years before West Germany did. (In West Germany, the supreme court re-iterated in 1957 that homosexuality was obscene, and 50,000 men were arrested before it was legalised in 1975). As for racism, while it's never gone, the prejudice against Jews and gypsies that appear in the book strike me as unlikely in 1980s Germany (West or East). At times, Katherine Locke's DDR feels like it hasn't changed much from Nazi Germany, and that is, in my opinion, an exaggeration,

That said, Ellie being an English-speaker behind the Iron Curtain, she has to spend much of her time in hiding, forcing a claustrophobic tension into the story that feels warranted and authentic. Perhaps East Germany feels extra grim partially because of the culture shock and contrast she experiences.

While much of this review details the aspects of the novel that made me bristle a little, I would nonetheless recommend it. It's a good, exciting story, with shedloads of atmosphere and enough authenticity for most readers. If you were alive during the Cold War, or if you're a German native, you might find some things to quibble over, but if neither of those statements applies I suspect you'll enjoy the setting, atmosphere, detail and tension of the book.

This was so unique, and an absolute blast. I love time travel, and the red balloons were a fascinating piece of worldbuilding! The three POVs were solid and mostly well-meshed, the Benno chapters did pull me out of the main story a bit. However, but I thought they were extremely poignant on their own. Kai's POV was my favorite, but I enjoyed Ellie's chapters too. I loved that Ellie was brought back to the 80's, and the tension regarding the East Berlin conflict was really interesting to explore with these characters. I did struggle a bit with Ellie's motivations at the end, but overall I found this very emotional and compelling.

(And can we have a sequel about Mitzi, pretty please?!?)

The Girl with the Red Balloon blew me out of the water with its twist on West Berlin in 1988, where magic red balloons help people escape over the wall. I was captivated with the vivid aspects of time travel and the way it was explained in this novel. Everything in the novel was connected in a loop and was tied together with a nice red bow at the end.

Although my favorite subject in school was never social studies, historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to read. As an avid reader, I consume stories, and history is just that: stories. I love delving into the personal lives of those in a certain part of history. I have never been a "general overview" person. Give me the details; it makes things so much more intimate and fascinating. Now, coupled with fantasy, which tends to emphasize a story's themes? That was exactly what made the synopsis of The Girl With the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke so appealing to me.

Basically, on a school field trip in Germany, Ellie Baum accidentally time-travels to the year 1988, the time of the Berlin Wall. She runs into Kai and Mitzi, who are a part of the underground dealings of the red balloons that bring passengers over the Wall, and learns that time travel—although her grandfather's stories about magic are true—is an anomaly. They offer her shelter until the magic-wielding Schöpfers find a way to send her back, but soon, more time-travelers from modern times turn up... dead.

The story is an interesting mix of Ruta Sepetys's historical fiction and William Ritter's historical fantasy series Jackaby. While the story has a solemn background like that which is present in Sepetys's novels, it also has a unworldly feel with the intervention of fantasy in a setting other than that of our time. But it's not just the idea of the story that's beautiful. The execution is stellar as well.

Some stories hardly benefit from the inclusion of more than one narrator, but The Girl With the Red Balloon's three narrators, being from different time periods, all contribute perspective and emotional depth. In addition, I absolutely adore the sense of connection and friendship among the Ellie, Mitzi, and Kai trio. They're each out-of-place in a different way, and it's difficult not to root for them when they're trying so hard to make do with what they've got. Ellie has to adapt to being in another country and another time, Kai is a Romani separated from other Romanis with only a sister he dearly loves and protects, and Mitzi is a lesbian who can't return to her own family. Kai and Mitzi may have their own problems, but they are such characters. Kai is hilarious and witty, and Mitzi, after warming up to Ellie, is like the outgoing best friend everyone wants.

Unfortunately, the romance doesn't do too much for me personally. It moves quickly, considering the circumstances. Ellie is quick to trust and rarely thinks about her family and friends back home. That is not to say that I don't like Ellie and Kai together. Their banter is great, and the writing had me shipping them at especially the end. Here's an example of one of the many spectacular bits in this work:

I wanted to tell him that people would write books about boys like him one day, boys who lived in fairy tales and changed the course of human history and human imagination.
That line grabbed me right by the heart and clenched it. I seriously cannot stress enough how, if I had to describe this book in one word, it would be "beautiful." The writing immerses you in this grim world with vivid imagery and similes, and reading about it is anything but painful.

"You're never given anything more than you can handle, Benno," she told me as we took our bags to the trains.
In conclusion, I am not only suggesting this book; I hope for readers to become as hyped about the debut of the novel as I am anticipating The Balloonmakers #2. The story has a plot that is almost fairy-tale like while touching on issues of both the past and present, something truly unique. I rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I admit I started reading this story without knowing exactly what to expect. I'm finding that I do like historical fiction more and more and knew this wasn't quite like most I'd find but the description intrigued me and so I read. The more I read, the more I found I loved the story and what may have seemed fairly simple ended up being much more intricate than I expected in such a wonderful way. I do hope the author continues the series, although it's also left in a wonderful spot as well. Although if the series continues, I'll definitely be following it!

The Girl with the Red Balloon is a welcome addition to YA literature, and it worthy of being in the same category as "The Book Thief" and "Shades of Grey." However, unlike the former, the Girl with the Red Balloon blends history and fantasy in order to tell a story that is indeed well-needed.

The book has three main characters, Ellie, Kai and Benno. I found most of the characters, with the exception of Benno, very well-developed. I can't say that I have a favourite but I do believe that readers will see aspects on themselves reflected on the page. I only wish we had seem more of Mitzi. With respect to Benno, I wish there were more of his story given how central he is to the plot.

The writer uses a triple narrative storyline in order to develop the plot and it definitely worked in a non-distracting way. The triple narrative is engaging and looking back, I do believe the story would have been less interesting if only told from the perspective of the main character. It is worth mentioning that there is a bit of romance. It is, however, extremely mild and does not detract from the plot in anyway. Again, it seems like a tool used for advancing the story as it difficult to conceptualise the story developing along purely platonic lines.

Locke's writing style is very engaging. The writing felt very personal and it was easy to be fully immersed in the story. Although I found the plot engaging, The Girl with the Red Balloon falls into the same trap that that other time-trail books often do, that is readers have no idea what's going on on the other side. Although it is addressed on page I wish that readers would have been privy to developments in the original timeline. The pacing of the story was also very strong, while there was a bit of a lull towards the middle of the book, the latter half was very engaging and I found myself skipping ahead to find out what was happening. Locke does a great job of building anticipation in that regard. One minor point to note was that the resolution of the plot does come way into the latter half and could be considered a bit rushed.

Setting is a huge part of this book and it's very difficult to imagine this story in a setting other than Berlin. Locke manages to weave together a tale that relies as much on setting, politics and history as it does on characters and plot. This is truly a commendable feat.

In summary, The Girl with the Red Balloon was an enjoyable read. I would recommend to teens who are interested in history, specifically European history.

This book, you guys. THIS BOOK. I didn’t know what to expect going into The Girl with the Red Balloon. Historical fiction is my favorite genre, and I’ve always been fascinated by the Berlin Wall and the division of Germany post-World War II. I went into this book expecting historical fiction set in East Berlin in the 80’s with a touch of magic, but what I got was one of the most emotionally powerful stories I have ever read. This book affected me on such a deep, unexpected level.

The story follows our protagonist, Ellie, who starts out on a trip to Berlin with her high school German class. She is visiting the ruins of the Berlin Wall when she sees a stray red balloon, grabs onto it, and is accidentally transported to the exact same spot in East Berlin in 1988– a year and a half before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Ellie gets swept up into the world of the Balloonmakers, who use a peculiar, equation-based (and super fascinating) type of magic written on balloons to transport people from East Berlin to the other side of the Wall, and consequently, to freedom. You would think a story with balloon magic would be whimsical and fun, but you would be wrong with this book. The Girl with the Red Balloon certainly leans toward the darker side of YA fiction. It raises so many important, difficult questions about morality, history, oppressive governments, fear, and everything in between.

In addition to the main plot, this book is part family saga: not only do we read from Ellie’s perspective, but also from that of her grandfather, Benno, who escaped a concentration camp and survived the Holocaust with the help of the first ever Balloonmaker in the 1940’s. The family element in this story is huge, and it really helped tie everything together. Oh man, it was heart-wrenching. This book does not shy away from the horrors of the Holocaust or from the anti-semitism rampant in Germany during that time, so take care while reading if those things are triggering for you.

I want to talk about characters, because the characters in this novel will stick with me for a long time. Of course, we have Ellie, our protagonist, and Benno, her grandfather. Ellie was such an easy protagonist to root for. I couldn’t help but feel for her and her situation. Her reactions to all of the craziness that had befallen her life felt so realistic. She was headstrong and brave, and her character development over the course of her time in East Berlin was absolutely beautiful. One thing I also loved about Ellie is that she is a practicing Jewish main character. It’s rare to see religious protagonists in YA at all, and even rarer to see any who partake in religious traditions other than Christianity. (The Jewish rep in this book is #ownvoices, by the way. Yay!) Then we have Kai, our love interest, who is also a POV character. I loved him so, so much. Again, I couldn’t help but feel for him. He is Romani, so he already feels like an outcast in most of the world, but he also is an outcast from his own Romanichal community back in England, which he had to flee when people started to persecute his younger sister, Sabina, for her magic. He would do anything to protect his family. He’s fiercely loyal. We also have Mitzi, the last of our main trio. Though not a POV character, Mitzi was impossible not to love. She is a lesbian in East Berlin, and started helping the Balloonmakers once her parents kicked her out of the house because of her sexuality. Mitzi seems abrasive at first, but she’s such a wonderful friend to both Kai and Ellie. These three and their friendship, man. It tugged so hard at my heartstrings. There was just such an abundance of love and loyalty among the three of them, and they were always, always there for one another. This wonderfully diverse cast of characters is one of my new favorites in any book, ever.

The romance between Kai and Ellie was completely swoonworthy. The beautiful friendships and romances that developed over the backdrop of such a bleak world added so much hope to this story. One thing I especially appreciated about the romance here is that there was no “woe is me, I love this boy, but we are from different times… whatever shall I do?!” narrative from Ellie. She loved Kai, and she just let herself love him without all of the angst, and vice versa. This story and these characters already had enough angst without an unnecessarily angsty romance, so that was much-appreciated. They had undeniable chemistry, and seriously, I’m not usually a shippy person, but I will go down with this damn ship. They deserved the happiness the other person brought them in such a bleak world, okay???

Obviously, the setting was dark as hell. I mean, one timeline chronicles a Jewish boy during the Nazi regime through his time in the ghettos and in a concentration camp, and the other chronicles three people of historically persecuted groups in freakin’ communist East Berlin in the 1980’s. I have read books set during the Holocaust, but none set in East Germany. I really enjoyed (that’s a strange verb to use, but whatever) reading about this particular city during this particular time. You really got a sense of the fear and hopelessness that had settled over the city by this point, but also of the spark of rebellion that stayed alive til the very end and ultimately helped bring about the demise of this oppressive regime. So, yes, the setting is decidedly grim– and Locke doesn’t shy away from the horrors of either of these time periods– but the relationships and the characters are what make the story bearable to read instead of just a giant black hole of sadness.

I don’t want to go too into detail here about the magical elements, because I think they’re fun to discover on your own. I will say that I thought the balloon magic was incredibly unique; I’ve never read anything like it. I love that it was equation-based– it was rooted in logic, but also it wasn’t entirely logical, because, like, it was still magic. I hope we get to learn more about the magic of this world in the next installment! I still have so many questions. The story also features a mystery element. I mean, clearly Ellie was not supposed to end up at the point in time where she did, and throughout the book the characters try to puzzle out how a malfunction in the balloon that caused her time travel could even be possible. The “whodunnit” was admittedly pretty predictable, but nonetheless gutwrenching to read about. Oh, also, you might be wondering why I only gave this book 4.5 stars instead of a full 5, since I loved it so much. The pacing felt a little bit slow to me at some points– there was a lot of Ellie just sitting around in the safehouse apartment toward the middle of the book. However, the rest of the book completely made up for the slightly off pacing at certain points.

Again, The Girl with the Red Balloon brought up so many questions I haven’t stopped thinking about since I finished it, especially about morality. This book is so deceptively deep. There are pages where you read a seemingly simple interaction or statement, but then the next thing you know, you think about it a little more and end up questioning your entire life and your beliefs. I should probably also mention the fact that this book had an astronomical emotional impact on me– this is the most I’ve cried while reading a book in years. YEARS. Probably since Clockwork Princess came out in 2012. Not only did I cry at random points throughout the book when something touched me, but I straight-up sobbed through the entire last 10% of the book, and, upon finishing it, cried for another half hour. The ending wasn’t even sad, just incredibly bittersweet and beautiful.

If you haven’t gathered it from my review, The Girl with the Red Balloon is one of the most powerful, emotionally impactful books I’ve read in my life. I cannot recommend this story highly enough to everyone.

Have you read The Girl with the Red Balloon? If so, let’s pleeeeaaase discuss because I have SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT IT. If not, please tell me you plan to pick it up this fall?

I don’t know what I expected when I picked this book up a few months ago. If I'm honest, I had barely paid attention to the synopsis. All I knew was that it was a novel about Germany, time travel, and red balloons. All I knew was that I wanted to read it.

What I did not expect was for it to hit me the way that it did, or to be nearly as good as it was.

This novel is fairly short, the hardcover is set to have only 256 pages, and yet it is so full of beautiful writing and heartwarming moments.

The story is about a Jewish girl named Ellie, on a school trip to Germany when she finds an abandoned red balloon, almost as if it had been waiting for her. Once she goes to hold it she finds herself transported back in time to 1988 on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall. There she meets Kai, an English Romani, and Mitzi, a gay, native East Berliner: two people facing terrible judgment for being different in a cruel and unforgiving world. Two people, who in spite of it all, are doing their best to sneak people into the safety of the West through the use of magical red balloons.  

It also is about a boy named Benno, in 1941 Berlin. He's a young Jew in during World War II. At first, his presence seems out of place. The point of views alternate between Ellie and Kai in 1988, and Benno in 1941. Then, all of a sudden, you see how the stories connect and how every event leads to another, all connecting in a wonderfully crafted circle. The two time periods play off one another, showing the dark moments of Germany's recent history. They also show the heart and the hope of the people who lived through them.

I tend to avoid books about the Holocaust. I am not Jewish. I have no ties to Germany. I have no connections to any of the events that happened during those hateful years of the World War. And yet, I do not think that any of that is necessary to feel something so deep inside your soul. Books dealing with those events always break my heart. The injustice of it all kills me every time, and this book made me feel it all. This book made me laugh, it also made me cry. It is so real, and yet, so magical. Also, that ending was absolutely wonderful and heartbreaking, and everything that it needed to be.

This book has a little bit of everything and could easily appeal to anyone. It's part historical fiction, part science fiction, part time travel adventure, and part fantasy. If you are looking for a good book, I totally recommend this one. 

**I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

Oh, how I adored this book! Fun fact: The first, say, fifteen to twenty pages were not the strongest start to a book. In fact, I was downright wary of it. BUT. Things changed, and they changed quickly. As soon as Ellie pops (get it? Like a balloon?) back in time, into 1988 East Berlin, the whole tone of the book shifts. It goes from feeling like a campy contemporary in the first few pages to a magnificent story with an incredibly important social commentary in a matter of pages, then doesn’t let up. And now, I shall explain how and why.

-The most striking aspect of the story is its eternal relevance. Yes, it is centered in two very specific points in history: The tail end of the Berlin Wall’s oppression, and the Holocaust. But looking at our current political and social climate, it’s clear that this story applies to not just Germany’s history, but is the tale of an ongoing struggle that humanity is always in the midst of. It’s a story of the brave people who stood up against evil, against wrong. And if that isn’t a lesson we need now more than ever, I don’t know what is.

-Using the character of Ellie, a modern day teen, to see the atrocities of the past was a perfect choice. At first, Ellie seemed quite vapid to me, quite mundane. But I feel like that might have been the author’s intention, looking back on the story. Ellie was all of us. Living her daily life, worried about her friends and family and classmates and what she’d be doing in her free time, and how she looked. But in the literal blink of an eye, Ellie was transported to something more than her normal cushy American life. Ellie navigating this world felt relatable because she was such a normal girl, thrust into a dangerous and important time.

-Ellie’s lessons extended beyond the historical ones. The bonds she formed while she was in East Berlin were so incredible. She found the power of female friendship, of love, of mentors. She had to navigate who could be trusted, how to handle herself in dangerous situations, how to make tough choices. And certainly she made mistakes, but again, I think that was important to the story.

-The story was incredibly emotionally provocative. The flashback chapters to the Holocaust were positively gutting. And the tension in East Berlin was absolutely palpable, the danger apparent and imminent.

Bottom Line: This was exquisite. I am absolutely looking forward to the next book set in this world, and while I think an epilogue or even a sequel would be amazing, I do understand why the book ended as it did. Apart from a bit of a slow start, this book completely captivated me.

Me, a self-proclaimed history devourer & wannabe SPONGE (Red Balloon reference, anybody?), travelling to Berlin in her summer holidays, OF COURSE requested this on NetGalley - not really expecting too much... boy, was I was blown away (gettit, like a balloon is blown away? Looool)

SO, FOR YOU HISTORY NERDS OUT THERE, we have:
- (fictional) first hand accounts of being a Jew in 1942 in Berlin, in Łódź ghetto AND in Chełmno concentration camp
-the majority of the book set in the DDR, East Berlin in 1988 (one year before the Berlin Wall comes down, but obvs the character from that time period don't know that)
- a dark-skinned Romani living in East Berlin in 1988 (where racism is still rife, against Jews and Romani - who were statistically most impacted by the holocaust)
- a gay girl with blue hair (!) living in East Berlin in 1988
- and references to other strifes in the 1980's, i.e. South Africa, Iran etc etc
... and all of these storylines intertwine with a girl from the present, a girl with a red balloon.

FOR YOU MAGIC BELIEVERS AND READERS, we have:
- people born with magic in their veins
- this magic can make you invisible, make things fly, make words glow & hence have a magical impact, and TIME TRAVEL (controversially)
- magic communities fighting against oppression, helping people escape from East Berlin over the wall, and from other places of oppression, with magic flying balloons
- MAGICIANS GONE ROGUE
- watch-dogs that watch over the magical communities

AND IF YOU JUST WANT TO READ A REALLY GOOD BOOK, we have:
- brilliant structure. The book is split into a few point of views, but bare with me - it's not confusing at all, I promise. In the beginning, we are in 2017 with our mc Ellie, a Jewish girl, the granddaughter of a holocaust survivor, on a school trip to Berlin. With a little help from a red balloon, we now have Ellie's POV from East Berlin in 1988 - sometimes we have Kai's (who found Ellie in 1988, works for the people with the red balloons) POV. Also, emotively, we have a young Jewish boy's POV on his life through the Nazi rise in power, the Łódź ghetto and the beginning of arriving in a concentration camp, Chełmno.
- great pace! I was never bored, the swell of characters meant there was always something going on, plenty of dialogue, and a steady unravelling of mystery (remember that MAGICIANS GONE ROGUE I mentioned? Yeah, that)
- romance between a Jewish girl from the future and a Romani boy from the past....... kills me
- all the characters. Just all of them. Ellie is the mc and is, understandably, wanting to get back to her own time period at the same time as being eager to learn about the time period and what came before it to understand her family's history, her character development is great and I loved the contrast between the present-day "I use my best friend to hide behind" and the 1988 Ellie who finds the courage to ignite a fire & is willing to burn for her best friends
- Kai, who ran away from the only community he ever knew to save his sister when they wanted to institutionalise her, is fierce and passionate and everything I wish I was brave enough to be.
- Mitzi will stay with me for a long time - her character is so beautiful. Unapologetically who she is; fearless, german, gay.
- I even loved the more minor characters, Sabina without a home, Aurora weighed down by the pressure of time, Felix with his obligations to his job.

Reading the first page about Ellie on the U-Bahn in Berlin, whilst I was on the U-Bahn in Berlin, was an experience to treasure, just like this book is... so many important lessons are conveyed, with all of my favourite things: the lessons of history, conflicting opinions, the importance of human rights and the influence of a little glitter and magic every now and then. Thanks for this one Locke, I'll remember it.

"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 gray 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 a few good people who used their magic for good, and I fell in love with a few more people who used it questionably but whose hearts meant well. 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."

// Thanks to NetGalley & the Publisher who provided me with a copy of this in exchange for an honest review //

Ellie grew up hearing stories from her grandfather (who’s a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust & WWII) about how he was saved from a death camp by a girl with a red balloon. So when Ellie visits Germany, as part of a school trip, she sees a red balloon and decides to take a picture with it! What she doesn’t know is, that this balloon is magical, and it transports her back in time to East Germany, where red balloons are used to save people like Ellie’s grandfather, and take them over the Berlin Wall.

Back in 1988 East Berlin, there’s a “secret society” that uses magic and red balloons to transfer people to the west, where they can be safe. I LOVED the concept, it’s simple yet there’s so much behind it! I would have loved to read more about how this started or at least more information to understand it. It seems that Ellie understood this better than me! She starts to adapt quickly when she travels back in time! As an outsider (American from the future), Ellie was constantly in hiding and in danger. She starts to work on her German to try to blend in, but we all know that isn’t as easy as it sounds…

THERE’S ROMANCE IN THIS BOOK AND IT KILLS ME TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! I don’t want to talk about it or get too mucho into it because I don’t want to spoil it, but I think the romance is what hurt me the most through the story. It’s just so sweet, kind, friendly, and real! I want to protect them. *cries*

The topics in the story are so important and relevant to all time periods! You’ll find racism, war, genocide, the holocaust, and a loooot more. I loved the mix between magic, science and math to explain how the balloons and time-travel is caused.

Another thing I loved about this book is that it shows us that ONE person and/or ONE decision can change the course of history. Magic or no magic, we have the power to change the world. I believe this is an important message we need to send, especially with everything that’s going on in the world right now… we shouldn’t give up. We have the power to change things, even if it takes time to do so.

An important part of the story –for me- is how Ellie has to deal with “restraining herself” from affecting the future. She wants to help, she wants to be useful, and she knows that the Berlin Wall is going to fall, but she also sees that all of these people are suffering and she wishes she could do something about it! Ellie is such a vulnerable yet strong character. I could relate to her so much!

It’s such an interesting, beautiful, and somehow… it’s also a dark story. I NEVER felt like I was reading a historical fiction book.

I don’t think there’s words to describe how beautiful this story is. I know I said this before, but I REALLY am not a fan of historical fiction, so yeah, picking up this book was a bit of a challenge (initially) for me. But just know that this story reads like a magical -time travel- contemporary with historical elements. It reads so different from what I’ve tried before, and it’s definitely on the heavier side of what YA fiction is, which I also enjoyed. So if -like me- you are not a fan of the historical genre, this book is a great place to start!

Overall Rating: 4.0 stars

The Girl with the Red Balloon quickly became one of my favorites of the year. Yes, there are so many things in here that are painful to read, several that made me cry, many that brought hope and a better understanding of Berlin, The Holocaust, and everything that can be too difficult to read but must be read pertaining to that time and the years after.

 This novel was so well written and was made even more memorable and I became emotionally invested with all the characters that filled the pages. Kai is the brooding guy (for good reason) who loves with a passion, knowing that every single moment is precious and every minute could be his last. There was Ellie who learned and grew so much more after having traveling back into that time, the hardest thing she's ever had to do. 

If those two leading characters weren't enough to make this novel a fave, there is also Mitzi who is the toughest person they could have fighting by their side, as well as Kai's sister Sabina who is very important to the future of those within these pages. None of them have an easy life, far from it, but they stay strong because they have each other and the hope that magic will change things, hopefully for the better for many.

That's where the red balloons come in and everything they meant to the story. Magic exists in this universe, where there is more hope than ever imaginable. It's how Ellie finds herself in the past, going through the fears and worries that many had to endure and painfully leave that world with. This isn't a fairy-tale story though, of salvation and peace, it is only partial truths and that was intensely painful to read, but I left me feeling more blessed and thankful for what I have now. 

Even with several of those pages that I couldn't find solace within, even with the heartbreaking recounting of Benno's (another important character to the story) life, throughout those harrowing years of his existence, I appreciated everything that was said and shown. Something like this should never be forgotten, their hardships, their lives, it should be remembered, so that we as a whole never allow something as gruesomely brutal to happen again in any lifetime. 

This novel makes you have all feels possible, of love, sadness, of joy, and wonder, of hope, and so many more. Magic though, as distressing as this book could be, gave it that enchanting vibe that allowed hope that should have been, a way to be free from such an appalling way of life that should never have happened. Even though there wasn't many happily ever afters at the end of this world, it was more truthful and full of meaningful moments. More appreciation for it than if it had been left perfectly wrapped with a pretty bow on top. I'm absolutely adding a copy to my shelves. 

***I received this copy from Albert Whitman Company via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***

It is a tale where magic and realism meet and create a great story of hope. The time travel component is executed really well and I can’t wait for the next book. There is a romance going on and I appreciate that it was not much of the focus. All in all, a bit dark than I expected yet an enthralling read.

"We are strange, sometimes, in the ways we choose to bear witness"

* * * *
4 / 5

I wouldn't call myself a history nerd, but I would like to think that I have a reasonable understanding of a good chunk of European history. The Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall, however, have drifted under my radar - possibly because I've never been to Berlin but also perhaps because it's so recent, more recent than I had thought, such that it is less likely to become a dinner conversation and is more of a hushed memory. The Girl With The Red Balloon is a beautifully written and magical (in more ways than one) novel that I implore you to read.

"A new language forming from her mouth, even as her hands wrote out an equally strange one and made magic of it"

It's actually quite a short novel, yet it packs an emotional punch and spans three time periods. We have Ellie Baum, a sixteen year old girl who lives in the present, or at least she did; on a school trip to Berlin, Ellie grabs hold of a red balloon in order to pose in a photograph for her grandad who claims that a balloon helped him escape the concentration camps during WWII, and is transported to East Berlin, 1988. There she meets Kai and Mitzi, who recognise the balloon she is holding and get her somewhere safe; after all, East Berlin at night with rudimentary German at best and no papers is a dangerous place.

Kai and Mitzi are Runners. They work for two, for want of a better word, magicians who crafts balloons with mathematics and blood that can carry people over the wall. Runners keep the passengers safe beforehand and essentially do all of the grunt work, but something is going wrong: time travellers are turning up dead, red balloons clutched in hand, and Kai's sure he's being watched. This main story is interrupted and bound together by a story set in 1941, that of a young Jewish boy called Benno in Lodz Ghetto. The plot itself is captivating, winding together stories of hope, of history, of magic, of death, of racism (Kai is a dark-skinned Roma), of sexuality (Mitzi is gay), and of family.

"Magic and balloons," I whispered, shivering from the cold and the dark. "And Walls and time"
Kai's voice was low and sad. "The things that get us out and the things that keep us in"

The characters are also fantastic and the three voices of the book, Ellie, Kai, and Benno, are all easily distinguishable. Understandably, Ellie spends a fair amount of the start of the book in states of shock and making a few stupid decisions, but she is a soft, loving girl who I was fond of. Kai is driven by a desire to protect his younger sister, Sabina, who is being hunted by various people because of the magic in her veins. Then we have Mitzi, who I really wish we had more of. I was sensitive to and moved by Benno's story and saw how it was necessary to the narrative, but I did find it disrupted the flow, to flick between 1941 and 1988 constantly, and I think I would have rather the book focused specifically on the Berlin Wall by replacing Benno's narrative with bits by Mitzi. My other complaint is that I thought that the ending was a bit of a cop-out: if we had had another couple of chapters, the book could have well been wrapped up as an amazing stand-alone.

Overall, I highly recommend The Girl With The Red Balloon to those who might not normally read historical books, to those, like me, who want to explore a slightly different area of German history, and to those that love an inventive, magical plot.

For Ellie Baum, being in Berlin on a school trip is little unsettling: she’s grown up listening to tales from her grandfather, who escaped from a death camp in 1942. She loves her grandfather, but his stories don’t always make sense. Like the ones of the balloons carrying people to safety. She’s heard his stories, she just doesn’t believe them. Until she catches the string of a red balloon, and ends up in East Berlin in 1988, before the Berlin Wall fell.

Stranded in the midst of an oppressive regime, Ellie meets Kai, one of the Runners who help balloon passengers escape over the wall. But no one knows what happened to Ellie’s balloon; they just know its real Passenger is dead. With the help of Kai and Mitzi, Ellie must unravel the mystery of her time travel if she’s ever to return to her own time. But someone want to use time travel to change history. And that person doesn’t care who has to die to do so.

At first, I wasn’t too sure about this book and Ellie herself, but I ended up really loving it. This is such a unique concept, and I’ve personally not read much—if anything—set in East Berlin while the Wall was still up. The tale of Ellie’s grandfather is just as enthralling as Ellie’s is, and Kai and Mitzi are so intriguing I wanted to know much more about them. A very compelling book, set in a bleak time in history.

The Girl with the Red Balloon is Katherine Locke’s first YA novel.

(Galley provided by AW Teen via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

.The premise of the balloons drew me in, but the relationships between the characters kept me glued to the book. I'm sucker for found family in fiction, and the relationship between Ellie, Kai, and Mitzi both warmed my heart and made me want more at the same time.

Through magic, the story shines a light on a part of history that I wasn't as familiar with as I had thought. The specifics of that time of history and what it meant for the people there is often a small footnote in the memory of people today. I admire how the book connects different parts of history and the people from those moments to each other.

The magic structure in the story does take a little time to get used to, but it's well worth it once the foundation is laid. It's unique and original in a way that few books I've read recently have been

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Give me a time travel book and I am there. <i>The Girl with the Red Balloon</i> delivers and I can't recommend it more.

[NOTE: I am not Jewish, so I cannot speak to the Jewish representation. I was recommended the book because of its positive Jewish rep, so I hope I wasn't steered in the wrong direction.]

I haven't seen a book written about the Cold War, specifically about the Berlin Wall. My knowledge is limited to "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" and the graffiti seen on the West Berlin's side of the Wall. I don't know if this is one of the many faults of the American educations system or my own lack of research. Even more so, I didn't realize the parallels between the division between West and East Berlin and the Holocaust. I don't know if this is an extra layer to the story added by the author or if it's something that is discussed regularly and common knowledge outside the U.S.

The time travel aspect of the book was A+. I loved the connection between physics and magic and how the two come together. The use of a red balloon as the savior device is brilliant. It's such a mundane object, but I imagine myself finding red balloons alluring in the future because of this story.

There isn't a lot of action, more sitting around and taking in everyday life. In any other book, I would have found this boring, but I found it intriguing here. It may have been my lack of historical knowledge of this era (which I mentioned above), but I wanted to know more about what everyday life was like and what laws were present then.

My absolute favorite part of this book is the main characters. We have Ellie, a Jewish American student in Berlin for a class trip; Kai, a Romani Runner who is doing this job as a way to help his sister; and Mitzi, a queer German who wants to help her home, but you can tell she has complicated feelings about it. I adore them all so much and I was (unfortunately) surprised there wasn't a cat fight of some kind between Ellie and Mitzi. Instead, we have a rather deep conversation between them and their ancestors' roles in the Holocaust. The fact that Katherine Locke has a Romani individual made my day. It's difficult to find Romani characters who are treated with respect and I adored Kai and his characterization. Also, I have a lot of love for his inclusion in the group since it's rarely noted how Romani people were targeted during the Holocaust.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and can't wait for its sequel to see what happens next.

Katherine Locke’s The Girl with the Red Balloon is such a gorgeous and moving book that I’m nearly at a loss for words to convey just how good it really is. I finished reading it a few days ago and just can’t stop thinking about it. The Girl with the Red Balloon is not a light read by any stretch of the imagination – it deals with weighty subjects like the Holocaust, racism, homophobia, and what it was like to live behind the Iron Curtain before the Berlin Wall fell. For the most part, it’s a dark and gritty dual time period read that shows how horrific it was for Jews during World War II as well as how difficult it was to live under the eye of a totalitarian regime in 1980’s East Germany. It’s not all darkness and horror though. Katherine Locke uses a hint of magic and a bit of romance to offset all of that darkness. You see, not only is this novel historical fiction that deals with more than one time period. It’s also a time travel novel.

The Girl with the Red Balloon begins in present day Germany where we meet one of our main characters, sixteen year old Ellie Baum, who has traveled there on a class field trip. She sees a red balloon floating nearby while hanging out with her classmates and asks her best friend to take a photo of her with it for her grandfather. It reminds her of a story her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, always tells her, about how a girl in a purple dress handed him a red balloon when he arrived at a concentration camp during the war, and the balloon floated him out of the camp and to safety.

When Ellie grabs the balloon, however, the unexpected and unbelievable happens. She travels back in time to 1988 and finds herself in East Berlin and in imminent danger! There she is found and led to a safe house by Kai and Mitzi, a Romani gypsy and a German lesbian, who are part of a magical resistance group who uses red balloons to float people over the Berlin Wall and into West Germany. The catch? These balloons, while magical, are not supposed to travel through time. The balloon makers are stumped as to what has happened to bring Ellie to them and are therefore unsure of how to get her back to her own time period. The resistance group vows to keep Ellie safe from the East German police and to do everything they can to find a way to get her home, but when dead time travelers start turning up with red balloons, it becomes clear that someone is experimenting with forbidden dark magic and time travel. Why is someone trying to travel back in time and why are they so willing to do it, even at the expense of innocent lives? If others are dying when they grab these balloons, how was Ellie able to safely travel back in time? It becomes a race against time to stop who is behind this before the bodies start piling up, even if it means Ellie loses out on perhaps her only way back to the future.

LIKES

This is another one of those books where I could just write pages and pages about what I liked. I don’t want to give anything away though so I’m just going to list a few highlights.

The friendship between Ellie and her two protectors, Kai and Mitzi, was one of my favorite parts of the book. These three become fast friends while living in the safe house together, and their chemistry is fantastic. They’re immediately like The Three Musketeers, all for one and one for all. I also loved the diversity that these characters represented – Ellie is Jewish, Kai is Romani, and Mitzi is a lesbian. This diversity further forges a bond between them since all three are considered undesirable in East Berlin during this time frame. The police would love nothing more than to find a reason to arrest them, so they always have each other’s backs.
As I mentioned, there is also a romance in this book and even though on the surface it might sound like somewhat out of place since we already have time traveling, the Holocaust, magical balloons, etc., the romance actually worked well for me. First, it’s not instalove, so yay. No, instead, the relationship develops quite naturally as Kai and Ellie get to know each other better. Kai is kind of dark and brooding at times and he sees Ellie as this softness and light that he needs in his life. Ellie becomes attracted to Kai, not just because he is handsome, but because of how he puts himself on the line trying to help as many people as he can get over into West Germany. Ellie is also touched when she sees how devoted Kai is to his younger sister, Sabina. He would literally do anything to keep Sabina safe and it’s heartwarming to see.

I was incredibly invested in this relationship not just because I liked that it developed naturally and that their two personalities really complimented each other, but also because it just tugged at my heart strings. What happens to their relationship if the balloon makers are able to figure out how to send Ellie back to her own time period? Would she go or would she stay with the man she is falling in love with?

Other highlights for me were the completely unique premise and the major themes of the novel. Seriously, it doesn’t get much more creative than the idea of using magical red balloons to save people. In addition to the unique premise, there were also so many themes that resonated me with as I was reading. With respect to those balloons, I loved the beautiful message that there were heroes everywhere, both during World War II and during the time of the Iron Curtain – people who risked their own safety trying to save as many people as they could. Another darker message that resonated with me as I got further into the story was more of a question of ethics – if a person’s overall intention is good, does that excuse any unethical behavior he or she may engage along the way accomplishing that goal? This was definitely food for thought for me as I was reading.

A final highlight for me was the way the story was presented. It’s presented in alternating chapters from the perspective of Kai and Ellie in 1988 East Berlin and from Ellie’s grandfather, Benno, as a young boy during World War II. I loved how presenting the story this way effectively moves Ellie’s time traveling story forward as well as her relationship with Kai, while at the same time, circling back and showing the origin of the red balloons. Seeing Benno’s horrific experiences in the Jewish ghettos, surrounded by disease and death, served as a poignant reminder that without that red balloon, neither Ellie nor any of her other family members would exist in present day. Ellie literally owes her life to that magical balloon.

DISLIKES/ISSUES

The only real issue I had with this book was that it took me a few chapters to acclimate to the three alternating points of view. I’m not going to call that a dislike because once I got used to it and remembered, I thought it was a beautiful way to tie together what happened with Benno and a red balloon during the war and what happened to his granddaughter when she touches a red balloon over 40 years later.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Girl with the Red Balloon is a book that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, magic, time travel, romance, and even mysteries. Not only does it have a little something for everyone, but it’s also just a beautifully written story that will be on your mind long after you read the final pages.

RATING: 5 STARS

Thanks so much to Katherine Locke, Netgalley, and the Albert Whitman Company for allowing me the opportunity to preview an advanced copy of this book. It in no way shapes my opinion of the book.

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.

*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!

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

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!

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

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.