A child without childhood

I think almost everyone can agree that stories keep us all going. Zlata's story kept me going. I'm pretty sure this is the fastest I have ever read a book (not counting la linea lol). I enjoyed learning something new on each page, whether it was about her home life, the war, or just Zlata's thoughts. I would recommend this book to 8th graders and up and mostly because of some of the goriness that was witnessed. Zlata's story can also be seen as an adventure, or at least I think it could be. 

Zlata had somewhat of an idea about the war which is what I think made the book even more interesting. Zlata knew so little about the reasons the things around her were happenning but she still had so much to say about it.  Zlata realized that the people causing the war were not representing the people but representing themselves and their ambitions to take over larger areas. She believed that they were perfectly capable of bringing about peace but choosing not to. She also did not understand why they wanted to divide everyone. She noted that most people get along quite nicely despite ethnic or religious backgrounds that were different. They did not dislike or cause problems until their politicians told them that they should. Zlata believed that the politicians were far from trying to create a better country or region. She believes they were doing the opposite. They were destroying the country; there would not be anything left over if the war went on. Zlata viewed politicians as people who made empty promises, and in the case of the leaders of the conflict, it would not be easy to argue.

Zlata's life was devastated as the war effectively ended her childhood. Although growing up and becoming interested in the usual teen things, Zlata was still aware that she was a child. For someone who had never seen war before, I felt that Zlata was mostly very non shalant about things when they happened. She had a sense of calmness in her diary and I loved it. I also loved that she did not seem to rush through her childhood to become an adult. She took pleasure in being with her friends and activities in the park and family vacations. It appeared that she enjoyed the small things. All of the small but important things in Zlata's life, that we all sometimes take for granted, stopped once the war started. Zlata's childhood was put on pause, and the memory of it was practically ruined. Zlata felt as though it had never really happened. Her childhood park was ruined, and her favorite trees were uprooted and dead. One of Zlata's friends was killed during a bombing raid on the playground, taking away her happy associations, leaving the feeling of sadness and loss. Zlata's summer home was destroyed, and the memories of times spent there were somewhat numbed by its destruction. Zlata was forced to take on a different role in the family. Zlata previously depended on her parents for reassurance that everything would be alright; they then had to depend on her and needed her to be strong for them. The roles were reversed, and this affected Zlata immensely.