The Impossible Journey

by Gloria Whelan

Book Overview

One Russian night in 1934, Marya and Georgi's parents disappear. Despite high risks, Katya and Misha had spoken against the government. The children, alone and desperate, fear the worst. Will they ever see their parents again?

But all it takes is one crumpled letter to give Marya and Georgi hope and send them on a dangerous mission to reunite their family. They must steal away in the dark of night, escape the city, and find passage to the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0066238110
• ISBN13: 9780066238111
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

My daughter loved it and lent it to her friends

Our family recently returned from an extended stay in Russia. My 11-year old has read all of the books in this series and loves the link to Russian history and the characters of the children in the books.

Wonderful Book

The Impossible Journey by Gloria Whelan will enrapture you as you accompany thirteen year-old Marya and her seven year-old brother Georgi as they travel across Russia to find be reunited with their mother. It?s 1934, and Stalin, the dictator of Russia and a leader of the Communist Revolution, is worshipped by many in Russia. He is also hated- by those known as ?enemies of the Revolution,? namely people like Marya's parents, Katya and Misha, who were children of aristocrats, people who were hated by many Russians. For ?enemies of the Revolution? who are constantly working against the government, many places in Russia are dangerous. Leningrad- where Marya?s family lives is an especially risky city. One winter day, Sergei Kirov, a leader of the Revolution, is assassinated. Stalin is using his death to retaliate with people who were against him- including Misha and Katya, who are arrested. Mrs. Zotov, their greedy neighbor, invites them to stay with her and her husband. As payment, they may have all the items in Marya?s family?s apartment. Marya refuses to attend school so Mr. Zotov, who purchases bear cubs, and makes them dance on the street to collect money, lets her to fill in for him. As days go by, Marya trains the cub and earns increasing amounts of money. She also discovers that her father is being sent to labor in a coal mine in Siberia. Marya and Georgi receive a letter from their mother, which informs them that she is being exiled for three years in Dudinka, a town that it is close to the mouth of the Yenisey River in barren Siberia. She develops a plan to run away and travel to Dudinka to live with her mother. She would take a train which would drop her off a thousand miles from Dudinka. From there, she would walk, having no money for a steamship ticket. She also did not have enough to bring Georgi along with her so she trades her mother?s treasured necklace for money, enough to buy another ticket and food. Eventually, tired of having two extra mouths to, the Zotovs announce that they are sending Georgi and Marya to an orphanage the next day. Marya and Georgi sneak away that night to the train station. They become friends with a family, the Glebovs. Dr. Glebov sneaks them aboard the train because they didn?t have the necessary passports. Grateful, Marya tells them their story, and Dr. Glebov confesses that against his consent he is being sent to Siberia as a doctor in one of the coal mines. After the train trip, then begins their thousand mile walk along the friendly River Yenisey. They encounter bears, a bitter man named Savoff, cold, rain, indigenous Samoyeds, and more. Marya must try to be brave for she must set an example for her na?ve young brother and keep up their hopes of reuniting their family. The Impossible Journey unfolds as smoothly as a flower opening its petals to the sun, as Gloria Whelan weaves this incredible epic novel about journeying to ones you love and finding help, hope, and friendship, from people you least e

Book Review for The Impossible Journey

If you liked the book Angel on the Square, by Gloria Whelan, you'll love the squeal The Impossible Journey. The main character from Angel on the Square is Katya. The Impossible Journey is about Katya's children. The story takes place in Russia under the rule of Stalin. Katya and her husband are arrested by fake charges and sent to Siberia. The children, Marya and Georgio, go to stay with their nasty neighbors who only take the children in so they can have the family's possessions. The neighbors plan to send the children to an orphanage, so the children run away and travel an impossible journey to find their parents. Along their journey they meet everything from evil men who kidnap them to reindeer hunters who help them, their adventure getting harder with each page. The Impossible Journey was a suspenseful, good, book. I recommend this book to everyone who loves adventure, historical fiction, and a good read.

This is the best book!!!

The Imposible Journey is my Absolute favorite book. It is the story of a girl named Marya who lives in Russia during 1934. Her parents have been taken by Russia's communist government. Marya sells paintings she made to get money for the trip. Then she and her brother Georgi set off for the town in Siberia in which they know their mother is. On their "impossible journey" they encounter many things that could either slow them down or help them along the way.

Great Book! But Not As Exciting As Angel on the Square

This was a great book--full of adventure and very exciting. The children of Katya and her cousin from the last book-Angel on the Square-witness their parents being taken away by the new police instated by the Communist government of Russia. Marya and Georgi, the children, are taken in by their greedy and rude neighbors, who take everything from Marya and Georgi's family's aprtment, and plan to send the two kids to an orphanage. However, they escape by buying train tickets with a Faberge locket their mother recieved when she lived with Anastasia in Tsarkoe Selo before the revolution and begin a journey to Siberia, by boat, through the wilderness, and by traveling and living among natives in northern Russia in order to find their mother by an address they found in a letter from their mother. The ending of the story is heart-warming, with the discovery of their mother and the return of their father in a house in Siberia owned by an old woman who takes them in. However, the reunion is disrupted by tragedy with the death of their father. This is a sad book--but it shows that you should never give up what you pursue, and that if you work hard enough--you will achieve it.