 Jon Ostenson | Welcome to this final day of January, 2025! Our January 31st Weekend Picks is the final in a three-part series by blog contributor Jon Ostenson. He completes his suggestions with another amazing historical fiction (verse novel) published in 2024. Jon Ostenson, a former high school English teacher, is an associate professor and the current director of the English Education program at Brigham Young University. He teaches courses in young adult literature and writing pedagogy. Although he enjoys every class he teaches, he particularly enjoys his assignment to teach General Education literature courses where he can introduce students from all disciplines to the power and diversity of Young Adult Literature. |
Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams by Shari Green
 | This verse novel takes us to the city of Leipzig, Germany, on the eve of the fall of East Germany in 1989. Helena, the narrator, is a 16-year old piano student who lives for music and dreams of being a conductor someday. The action of the story opens with Helena discovering that her best friend Katrin’s family has fled East Germany in a dangerous bid to find freedom in the West. Helena is surprised and feels abandoned by her friend with whom she attended piano lessons and shared secrets and dreams. Her father, a university professor, has long resented and subtly resisted the oppressive Communist regime, but this is the first time these issues seem to matter to Helena. We see her awareness of the political climate unfold as her music teacher is arrested for participating in ongoing prayer and song protest meetings and the Stasi becomes increasingly interested in her family and friends. |
At the same time, Helena starts having feelings for Lucas, the young man who started piano lessons with her teacher after Katrin left. The two share a deep love for music and, although she hesitates to trust him, she begins to see the oppressiveness of the police and government as Lucas shares his hatred for them. Events in Helena’s life and in her city come to a head as, at the urging of Lucas, she begins to join in the protests and the calls for freedom.
| Green’s verse novel is a moving story that, even though we know the historical outcome for Leipzig and East Germany, makes us care deeply about Helena and her family. Her poetic lines draw us into the turmoil of an oppressive regime on the edge but also show us the emotional tension within Helena as she deals with the loss of a best friend and the arrival of a new relationship with a fellow music aficionado. Green skillfully touches on the brutality of the regime and the terrible risks that Helena and her father take in participating in the protests, suggesting the violence and oppression without dwelling on it. Helena’s coming of age is smartly reflected in her growing interest in the protests (due in no small part to Lucas’ influence) and her recognition that the hope and possibility that the protestors call for is what she dreams of, too. |  Author Shari Green |
There are many moments of brilliance in Green’s writing, with some verses making my heart heavy with sorrow and others making it soar with humor and hope.
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