I could talk about how much I adore Katrina Nannestad’s work all day. Profound, emotional and gripping, Nannestad’s writing is also sensitive enough to depict the darkest parts of history in a way that is appropriate for children without holding back.

Though Waiting for the Storks is Nannestad’s third novel set during the horror of the Second World War, it is a unique and powerful story with something new to offer. Zofia Ulinski is a proud Polish girl living under Nazi occupation, when she is kidnapped by German soldiers and forced to abandon her heritage, her family, her language and her home, and ‘become’ German. This provides her some protection from the war, but when she meets and befriends a young Polish boy, her memories of life in Poland come crashing back, and Zofia must figure out who she is, and more importantly, who she wants to be. For ages 11+.

Celeste Deliyiannis is from Readings Emporium