OFFICIAL BOOK WEBSITE:

betweenshadesofgray.com

PUBLISHER: Scholastic

Summary and Reflection Questions

Lithuania, June 1941: Fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school and looking forward to summer. In the dark of night there is a knock at the door and life is forever changed. Soviet secret police arrest Lina, her mother, and her younger brother, tearing their family apart. The three are hauled from their home and thrown into cattle cars, where they soon discover their destination: Siberia. Separated from her father, Lina embeds clues in her drawings and secretly passes them along, hoping there will reach her fathers prison camp. In this dramatic and moving story, Lina desperately fights for her life and the lives of those around her. But will love be enough to keep her alive?

(From Between Shades of Gray)

What is the shocking truth Lina discovers?

How does the Baltic Genocide affect Linas family?

Where does Linas relationship with Andrius go?

Who helps Lina?

The answers to these questions can be found in the book Between Shades of Gray.

One girls voice breaks the silence of history.

Between Shades of Gray

by Ruta Sepetys

The Action and Storyline

Lina Vilkas is a teenager living in Lithuania with her mother, father, and younger brother. When officers barge into her home one night to take her and her family away, she is forced to live in a unsanitary train car, where she travels with many people to Siberia, including a young mother and her newborn infant, an irritating bald man who always has something to say, the nice town librarian who tells the children on the train car stories, and a cute boy that Lina finds herself falling in love with. Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, gives cruel orders to the guards that make Lina fight for her life.

Presentation by Sanjana Ranade

www.webaddress.com

Meet the Characters

NKVD- secret police

Davai- to hurry (the NKVD uses this word a lot)

Kolkhoz- a collective farm

Munch- an artist Lina admires

Jurta- hut

Krasivaya- beautiful with strength; unique

Scurvy- a sickness occurring because of low Vitamin C (many of the deportees are diagnosed with this)

A story of hardship as well as human triumph. ~ L.A. Times

Lina Vilkas- a teenage artist and protagonist who tells the details about her journey

Jonas Vilkas- Linas younger, carefree brother

Elena Vilkas- Linas kind and thoughtful mother

Andrius Arvydas- the boy Lina likes who plays with Jonas on the journey

Mrs. Arvydas- Andrius mother, who is given special privileges at a cost

Nikolai Kretzsky- an officer who helps out the Vilkas family discreetly

Mr. Stalas- an irritating bald man

Mr. Lukas- an elder who constantly winds his watch out of nervousness

Mrs. Rimas- Elenas friend who helps Lina a lot

Miss Grybas- a woman who is very cranky

Janina- a young girl who admires Lina

Ona- a new mother whose baby dies on the trip; she goes insane and is killed afterwards

In 1939, the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Lists were made of people who were considered anti-Soviet. These people would be killed, sent to prison, or become slaves in Siberia. The people who were taken all played important roles in the Baltic states (doctors, teachers, and business owners to name a few). The first deportations took place on June 14th, 1941. While the people were away, the Soviets burnt their homes and buildings. The Nazi and Soviet Union worked together, and the three Baltic states no longer appeared on maps (until the 1990s). Even after the people came back, they were still under surveillance and monitored closely by the NKVD. The leader of this all was Josef Stalin, a dictator. He and his troops killed more than twenty-million people. The Baltic states lost one-third of their population. The Baltic Genocide is sometimes referred to as the Forgotten Holocaust.

Baltic Genocide/Occupation of the Baltic States

Words to Know

Lithuanian flag