Eva Underground [Hardcover]

Dandi Daley Mackall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006

The year 1978 has been a pretty good one for Eva Lott. She has a terrific best friend, she's dating the best-looking guy in school, and she just made the varsity swim team. So when her widowed dad says it's time for them to move, she's not exactly thrilled. And when he tells her that he intends to move to Communist Poland to help with a radical underground movement . . . Well, it's all downhill from there.

Soon Eva has been transplanted from her comfortable Chicago suburb to a land that doesn't even have meat in its stores, let alone Peter Frampton records. And everywhere she goes, the government is watching. But Eva begins to warm to her new life. Sometime between eating lard on bread and dodging the militia, she makes a handsome new friend, Tomek. And soon she is wondering if maybe she's found home in the most unlikely of places.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–Place Eva Lott, high school senior from Chicago, behind the Iron Curtain in pre-Solidarity Poland circa 1978 with cute and brooding political activist Tomek and you have a combination of romance and socially conscious historical fiction. Following her mother's death, the teen's English professor father uproots her in order to participate in the underground movement. The border crossing is terrifying, the weather icy, and food and supplies are virtually nonexistent. She plots to sneak away to the airport and desperately longs for the friends and comforts of home. In time, she begins to understand the oppression that the Polish underground is fighting and the hope of freedom that they hold dear. Her father teaches the novice journalists who anticipate the arrival of the forbidden printing press that will enable them to disseminate the truth, if they can get it past a ruthless militia. Eva's trip to Tomek's home to harvest the family's plums before a devastating ice storm and her later dangerous journey to transport the illegal printing press create the expected transformation from spoiled American teen to enlightened supporter of the cause. It takes a few chapters for the pace to become compelling, and the characters emerge somewhat slowly, but readers with an interest in world social and political issues will enjoy this distinctive human portrayal of a troubling time and place mixed with burgeoning young love.–Suzanne Gordon, Richards Middle School, Lawrenceville, GA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 8-11. In 1978 high-school-senior Eva Lott leaves her comfortable life in the Chicago suburbs for Communist Poland, where her father is teaching in the underground education movement. Coping with the recent death of her mother from cancer, Eva now has to contend with the boredom and loneliness of living in a foreign country. After a botched attempt to run away and make her way back to Chicago, Eva develops a friendship with Tomek, a young underground leader, and a romance blossoms, giving her a desire to stay. This otherwise standard coming-of-age love story is made more unusual by a strong sense of time and place. Mackall effectively conveys the harsh realities of living under a Communist regime and the sense of hope for a better future among Poles that came with the rise of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement and the election of the first Polish pope. Ed Sullivan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152054626
• ISBN-13: 978-0152054625
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,555,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dandi won her first writing contest as a 10-year-old tomboy. Her 50 words on "Why I Want to Be Batboy for the Kansas City A's" won first place, but the team wouldn't let a girl be batboy. It was her first taste of rejection.
Since then, Dandi Daley Mackall has become an award-winning author of over 400 books for children of all ages, with sales of 4 million copies in 22 countries. Recent picture books with Sleeping Bear Press include Legend of Ohio, Rudy Rides the Rails: A Depression Era Story (Notable Book 2008 - Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People National Council of Social Studies & Children's Book Council; winner of the Angel Award, 2008; Winner of the "Award of Excellence" from Chicago Book Show 2007) and 2008 release, A Girl Named Dan (her own "batboy" story, and a lesson on Title IX), 2 Mom's Choice Awards & Amelia Bloom Award. Eva Underground, Harcourt young adult novel, nominated ALA Best Book 2007, starred Kirkus review, awarded a Top Teen Read by New York Public Library, finalist for Ohioana Award, was based on the author's experiences behind the Iron Curtain. Love Rules was awarded Romantic Times' Top Pick. Middle-grade fiction, Larger-than-Life Lara, Dutton/Penguin, which teaches how to write, while tackling the problem of bullying, is on the KY Bluegrass Award List 2007-8; William Allan White Award list, 2008-9; KS and KY Children's Choice lists. Her Winnie the Horse Gentler series has sold over half a million books and Starlight Animal Rescue is a Gold Medallion finalist. Dandi received the 2009 Helen Keating Ott Award for distinguished contribution toward promoting high moral and ethical values in children and young adult literature. She also received the Distinguished Alumna Award in 2008 from the University of Missouri. Dandi is a national speaker, keynoting at conferences and Young Author events, and has made dozens of appearances on TV, including ABC, NBC, and CBS. Visit Dandi at www.dandibooks.com, winniethehorsegentler.com, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85oaIUbJ8j8

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARNING: YOU WILL CRY!, July 24, 2006

By 

Beautiful (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eva Underground (Hardcover)

Eva's dad forces her to move to poland to help with the underground freedom movement against communism. The government is watching their every move, there is no hot water, there isn't even meat! All she wants is to go home.
She plans the perfect escape. While her father is at a political funeral (great place for speaking against communism in public) she is going to sneak away to an airport. Too bad there isn't one in the city and even the closest ones don't even have flights to America!
Soon Poland grows on her. She's made friends, found a dog and maybe even a new boyfriend. But happiness doesn't last forever. When the freedom movement is broken up she has a choice to make. She can stay in Poland and help put the movement back together, or she can go back home to Chicago.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readers' Review, November 10, 2006

By 

Grateful Reader "Grateful Reader" (rural, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eva Underground (Hardcover)

A surprising and delightful read for readers of all ages. The romance is real and deep, unlike most novels. The setting makes the communist era and "Iron Curtain" dangers come alive and feel relevant to today. And the language of the narrative rings of Chekov. Don't let this book slip between the cracks. Read it and pass the good word.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A DELICIOUS READ!, June 27, 2006

By 

Laurie Knowlton "Ohio Reviews" (Medina, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eva Underground (Hardcover)

This is a magnificent example of how a writer can write on a topic seldom covered and bring the reader right to a time and place he or she has never thought about before. Mackall does an awesome job of showing what life was like behind the "Iron Curtain." This book has it all--intrigue, romance, relationships, suspense, and characters that stay with you after you're done reading.