Dear Peter, Dear Ulla

Dear Peter, Dear Ulla is an imaginative and beautifully crafted historical middle-grade novel about two cousins who are fast friends even though they have never met. Letters fly back and forth between them, and although Ulla lives in Danzig, Germany, and Peter on a Mennonite farm in Saskatchewan, their lives become inextricably entwined through an intense, empathetic connection that plays out in the first months of World War Two. Peter is a talented pianist and Ulla a skillful storyteller with a talent for drawing–will these skills help or hinder them through the challenges brought about by war? They can’t think of one another as enemies, even though that’s what the world is telling them that they are. Unfolding in alternating chapters, suspense builds as suspicion mounts all around both young protagonists. Will German-speaking Mennonites on the Canadian prairies be accused of sympathizing with the Nazis? Is Peter safe from the bully who despises him for playing music instead of hockey? Will the Nazis catch Ulla in the act of helping a Jewish friend? Will Ulla’s father lose his job entirely because of his views? These urgent questions, and the danger the war will sever the deep connection between Peter and Ulla, will keep young readers enthralled through this deft weaving of complex cultural and moral questions, told here with energy, humour, and empathy. Throughout the novel, the character Ulla sends her cousin Peter drawings she has done along with her letters. These pictures include a battleship attacking the city of Danzig, crowds greeting Hitler on his visit there, other family members, and the basement her family hides in during bombardment. The book’s illustrations will depict these drawings.