Book Review - The Taste of Rain

Title: The Taste of Rain
Author: Monique Polak
Genre: historical fiction
Similar books:  The Ballad of Yaya by Jean-Marie Omont
                       The Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John Boyne
Rating:

educational

Summary (provided by publisher):
It is 1945, and thirteen-year-old Gwendolyn has been a prisoner at the Weihsien Internment Camp in northern China for nearly two and a half years. Gwendolyn is one of 140 children who were enrolled at a boarding school in Chefoo when the Japanese Imperial Army invaded China.
Life in the camp is difficult. There is not enough food or water, and even the children are forced to do hard labor. But Miss E, one of their teachers from Chefoo, has come up with an unusual scheme: she will follow the Girl Guide Code, treating Gwendolyn and her friends as if they are part of a Girl Guide troop. Girl Guides promise not only to stay positive in the most challenging situations but also to do good turns, meaning they must be kind to others without any expectation of reward. Gwendolyn hopes that when she grows up, she will be as courageous and optimistic as Miss E.
But then Gwendolyn learns that Miss E is not as full of answers as she seems, and she realizes that in order to protect a friend, she will have to do something that could never be considered a good turn. 

My opinion: This was a part of history unfamiliar to me. I had heard about European concentration camps, American camps, and POW camps in Asia. I didn't know about camps in occupied China. That alone, that lesser known bit of history, makes this book worth reading. Without the setting context, it's a pretty standard concentration camp story. We see cruelty from most captors and the captives trying to find a way to keep living. It's puberty in captivity, heading towards adulthood in the worst possible circumstances and the way that shapes the person these kids will become. It's the struggle to keep your circumstances from turning you into a bitter and twisted person. The plot is a little vague and unfocused at times but it remains a decent choice to supplement a unit on World War II.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.