Available now at Indigo and McNally Robinson Booksellers
"A Storm Unleashed is an important book for our time. Mia is a 12-year-old girl in Berlin in 1935. She and her dog Max have grown up surrounded by love. But with Hitler’s rise to power, all she sees, and feels, now is hate. And when a member of the Hitler Youth threatens to take Max away, Mia realizes that the country she once knew and felt safe in is changing.
In this book, Carol Matas brilliantly sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of Hitler’s power – his army of 200,000 dogs. Matas centres the story on Mia’s lived experience - her love for her dog Max, her caring relationship with her Jewish veterinarian father, as well as with her non-Jewish grandparents and aunt on her mother’s side. When Mia can no longer ignore the antisemitism she’s experiencing in school, she realizes she has to pay attention to what’s going on in her country and to the people (and dog) she loves.
A Storm Unleashed not only tells a moving and accessible story leading up to World War II and the Holocaust, but shows young readers the importance of being engaged during turbulent times, while also leaning into hope and love." — Sidura Ludwig, author of Rising
"A powerful story about tragedy, terror and survival. We can learn of a dark past to create a brighter future." — Eric Walters, author of King of Jam Sandwiches
"A Storm Unleashed is a powerful and, at times, raw and terrifying fictionalized, but no less harrowing, story of one girl’s account in Nazi Germany. Despite this book being set in 1935, during the rise of Hitler, so much of what Mia experiences could easily be written about today’s rise in disinformation, propaganda, and antisemitism: “It is an odd feeling knowing a large portion of the country believes things that are simply not true. I can’t help but wonder if I also believe things that aren’t true. If so, how would I know?” A relatable, if difficult read that will keep kids turning the page to find out what happens to Mia and her beloved dog, Max, while sneakily teaching them about history, democracy, a little philosophy, and what could come again if we aren’t careful." — Joanne Levy, author of All the Things We Found.
"A Storm Unleashed is a powerful and, at times, raw and terrifying fictionalized, but no less harrowing, story of one girl’s account in Nazi Germany. Despite this book being set in 1935, during the rise of Hitler, so much of what Mia experiences could easily be written about today’s rise in disinformation, propaganda, and antisemitism: “It is an odd feeling knowing a large portion of the country believes things that are simply not true. I can’t help but wonder if I also believe things that aren’t true. If so, how would I know?” A relatable, if difficult read that will keep kids turning the page to find out what happens to Mia and her beloved dog, Max, while sneakily teaching them about history, democracy, a little philosophy, and what could come again if we aren’t careful." — Joanne Levy, author of All the Things We Found.
