Norway Wasn't Too Small

A Fact-Based Novel about Darkness and Survival

By (author) Irene Levin Berman

Not available to order

Publication date:

18 April 2016

Length of book:

270 pages

Publisher

Hamilton Books

ISBN-13: 9780761867722

Norway didn't have many Jews—but it had enough to attract Hitler's attention. It’s 1940 in Norway, and one Jewish family would rather be thinking of anything else. Budding artist Rebekka Davidson sketches the soldiers filling the school and streets, while her cousin Harald Rosenberg learns that he’d rather read about Hitler’s politics than experience them. Talented musician Ingrid Rosenberg prepares to go to her dream school while experiencing the wonders of first love—with the nephew of the leader of the local Nazis. Together, the family will do whatever it takes to return to normal life…but will it be enough?
By the end of the war, Norway had lost a higher percentage of its Jews than almost any other country in Europe. This story, inspired by the author’s own experience growing up Jewish in 1940s Norway, brings readers both young and old into the touching struggles of one incredible family. Norway wasn’t too small for Hitler, and for some families, it was everything.

Chapter 1—Oslo—War Comes to Norway, April 9, 1940
Chapter 2—Aalesund—Who is Hitler?, April 9, 1940
Chapter 3—Oslo—Are we running away?, April 11-12, 1940
Chapter 4—Aalesund—Far, please listen, May 30, 1940
Chapter 5—Oslo—The Pendant, June 10, 1940
Chapter 6—Aalesund—An Unfulfilled Dream, September 15, 1940
Chapter 7—Oslo—Are Jews Different?, September 30, 1940
Chapter 8—Aalesund—Grandmother’s Story, January 1941
Chapter 9—Oslo—Icy Spots, February 28, 1942
Chapter 10—Aalesund—Cousins Connect, April 28, 1942
Chapter 11—Oslo—The Blueberry Tooth, May 7, 1942
Chapter 12—Aalesund—Isak is Arrested, May 12, 1942
Chapter 13—Oslo—Persecution of the Jews begins, September/October 1942
Chapter 14—Aalesund—Where is God’s Part in this? October 17, 1942
Chapter 15—Oslo—Arrest of Jewish Men, October 25, 1942
Chapter 16—Aalesund—“Where is Everybody?” October 26, 1942
Chapter 17—Oslo—Tante Marie, October 28, 1942
Chapter 18—Aalesund—Ingrid’s Plot, November 2, 1942
Chapter 19—Oslo—Next—Women and Children, November 3-25, 1942
Chapter 20—Aalesund—Leyla gives in, November 25, 1942
Chapter 21—Oslo—The Wrong Train, November 25, 1942
Chapter 22—Aalesund—The White and the Black Raincoat, November 25, 1942
Chapter 23—Oslo—Annika’s Mistake, November 25, 1942
Chapter 24—Aalesund—The Last Glimpse, November 25-26, 1942
Chapter 25—Oslo—The Yellow Sign, November 25-26, 1942
Chapter 26—Aalesund—Where do I go now? November 26, 1942
Chapter 27—Oslo/Sweden—On Neutral Ground, November 26, 1942
Chapter 28—Aalesund—Immediate surgery, November 26, 1942
Chapter 29—Oslo/Sweden—I Need my Umbrella, November 26, 1942
Chapter 30—Aalesund—Recuperation from what? December 2-31, 1942
Chapter 31—Oslo/Sweden, Who is Miriam Davidson? December 3, 1942
Chapter 32—Aalesund—The Wrong Side of the Floor? December 7, 1942
Chapter 33—Stockholm—Socks vs. Sugar, December 16, 1942
Chapter 34—Aalesund—Time is running out, December 16, 1942
Chapter 35—Aalesund—The Journey with no return, January 23, 1943
Chapter 36—Sweden—When the Lights went out

This fact-based story of the Holocaust is a compelling educational and literary experience for young readers and adults alike! The vivid reality of daily life in Nazi-occupied Norway, the escapes to Sweden aided by resistance workers, the hospital ploys to save Jewish patients, and the ultimate round up and deportation of Norwegian Jews to death camps are all thrilling and heartbreaking as seen from the perspective of two teens.