Summer of Fire by Karen Bass Coteau Books Reviewed by Gail Jansen Price $12.95 ISBN 9781550504156 Listed as a book for teens, Summer of Fire by Karen Bass, is an equally good read for anyone living with a teenager, for the insight it can give into the inner workings of a teen’s minds. Set in modern day Germany, the book acts partly as a tour guide with its rich descriptions of the cities of Hamburg and Heidelberg, and partly as a history book, shedding light on a period that today stills haunts many Germans. Between these two facets is an engaging tale expertly interwoven that tells of two young girls who, despite the years that separate them, lead a parallel existence in many ways. When the book’s heroine Del is sent from her Canadian home to Germany to live with her emotionally distant sister for the summer, Del’s feelings of abandonment intensify as does her anger and resentment, until the day she is introduced to the diaries of a young German girl named Garda. Del starts to realize the part she has played in her own exile, and that as different as life is today, the hardships faced by a…
