You Don't Know What War Is

November 4, 2022

In this current-event memoir, 12-year-old Skalietska shares her experience of being caught in Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It draws from the diary she kept as she and her grandmother Iryna fled their hometown of Kharkiv, a large city in eastern Ukraine, after Russia's initial attacks on the city. Arrangements are made for transport to Dnipro and then across Ukraine by train to Uzhhorod. That's where the UK'S Channel 4 reporter encounters Skalietska and begins sharing her story. The TV station even helps Skalietska and Iryna cross the Hungarian border into Budapest before they ultimately settle in Ireland. The book concludes with vignettes from some of the author's Ukrainian friends about their own experiences of the war, scattered with photographs. Skalietska's writing is quick-paced and to-the-point, frankly describing her experiences during a horrific time of shelling, seeking shelter, and frantic arrangements to keep moving to somewhere safe. VERDICT A firsthand account of life in a war zone, fleeing one's home, and the way war forever alters the lives of children and families. Skalietska's book is empathetic and sympathetic reading for adults and has strong crossover appeal for YA readers.--Zebulin Evelhoch

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2022
A 12-year-old living with her grandmother in Kharkiv, Ukraine, records her frightening experiences during the Russian invasion. Skalietska and her grandmother Iryna were living in a comfortable apartment in Kharkiv when the bombs started falling early in the morning on Feb. 24, 2022. Having just celebrated her 12th birthday, the author was a bright, engaged, artistic young person who expressed shock at that horrific awakening. "No one had told us what we should do if a war broke out," she writes. "None of us were prepared for a war." She and Iryna ran to the basement of their apartment building, all the while checking on cellphones to figure out how their family and friends were doing. Soon, they fled to Skalietska's friend Inna's house on the other side of the city; then Red Cross volunteers drove them to Dnipro, where they caught a train to Uzhhorod, "in the far western end of Ukraine." A chance meeting in a school shelter with a British TV crew provided further contacts who were able to move them from Budapest to a foster family in Dublin. While the author records the immediate sounds and sensations of explosions, sirens, and panic of the neighbors as everyone sought to find shelter, Skalietska leaves a lot of territory unexplored, which may frustrate readers seeking further clarity on the conflict. For example, why does her mother live in Turkey and her father work somewhere abroad? How does she view herself in comparison to her peers in Russia, with whom they share customs, foods, and other cultural elements? Skalietska is clearly a precocious 12-year-old, but she does not ask many pertinent questions or probe deeply. Still, the diary could serve as a useful resource for schoolchildren learning about the latest conflagration in the region. A firsthand account that shows courage but remains mostly surface-level.

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