Sirens and Spies

by Janet Taylor Lisle

Book Overview

The Past Has its Secrets Mary and her sister Elsie's violin teacher, the flamboyant Miss Fitch, lies in the hospital, recovering from a brutal attack. Elsie, Miss Fitch's favored, talented student, refuses to visit her, declaring her a fraud, and worse. What has turned Elsie against her formerly beloved teacher? Mary can't believe the shocking secret from Miss Fitch's past that her sister has unearthed. She insists that they confront the teacher to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689844573
• ISBN13: 9780689844577
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

good WWII story

Elsie and Mary are violin students of the charismatic Miss Fitch with a mysterious past. When Elsie turns up some disturbing information about the beloved teacher at the local library, she abruptly quits her lessons in confusion. But when Miss Fitch is hospitalized, Elsie and her sister learn the truth about Miss Fitch's experiences as a teen-aged girl in Nazi-occupied France. I liked the complexity of this story, where the effects of war are shown in grey, not just black and white. For example, the Nazi soldier is shown as a sympathetic young man, not an evil stereotype. I thought the level of depth was unusual for a children's book; also, the story focuses on the French resistance side of the story, not around the Holocaust, like so many of the children's books on WWII that I have read.

Judge not

This would be a great book to teach the importance of not judging others. She also does a good job of showing that not everything is black and white in wartime.