"In the bitter desolation of Siberia, Esther and her family fight to stay alive."It is June 1941.
Notable Children\'s Books of 1968 (ALA) 1968 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book Outstanding Children\'s Books of 1968 (NYT) 1969 Jane Addams Award1971 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award Nominee, 1969 National Book Award for Children\'s Literature1969 Shirley Kravitz Children\'s Book Award1987 Deutsche Jugenliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize) "Honorable List"1969 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book).
Only the strength of family sustains them and gives them hope for the future.
For five years, Esther and her family live in exile, weeding potato fields and working in the mines, struggling for enough food and clothing to stay alive.
Their destination: the Endless steppe of Siberia.
They are "capitalists--enemies of the people." Forced from their home and friends in Vilna, Poland, they are herded into crowded cattle cars.
The Rudomin family has been arrested by the Russians. "In the bitter desolation of Siberia, Esther and her family fight to stay alive."It is June 1941
