You don't know what war is The diary of a young girl from Ukraine

A 12-year-old living with her grandmother in Kharkiv, Ukraine, records her frightening experiences during the Russian invasion. Skalietska and her grandmother Iryna were living in a comfortable apartment in Kharkiv when the bombs started falling early in the morning on Feb. 24, 2022. Having just celebrated her 12th birthday, the author was a bright, engaged, artistic young person who expressed shock at that horrific awakening. "No one had told us what we should do if a war broke out," she writes. "None of us were prepared for a war." She and Iryna ran to the basement of their apartment building, all the while checking on cellphones to figure out how their family and friends were doing. Soon, they fled to Skalietska's friend Inna's house on the other side of the city; then Red Cross volunteers drove them to Dnipro, where they caught a train to Uzhhorod, "in the far western end of Ukraine." A chance meeting in a school shelter with a British TV crew provided further contacts who were able to move them from Budapest to a foster family in Dublin. While the author records the immediate sounds and sensations of explosions, sirens, and panic of the neighbors as everyone sought to find shelter, Skalietska leaves a lot of territory unexplored, which may frustrate readers seeking further clarity on the conflict. For example, why does her mother live in Turkey and her father work somewhere abroad? How does she view herself in comparison to her peers in Russia, with whom they share customs, foods, and other cultural elements? Skalietska is clearly a precocious 12-year-old, but she does not ask many pertinent questions or probe deeply. Still, the diary could serve as a useful resource for schoolchildren learning about the latest conflagration in the region. A firsthand account that shows courage but remains mostly surface-level. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

It was an ordinary night--February 24, 2022. I was sleeping soundly. Suddenly I awoke at 5 a.m. I decided to move from my bed to the living room. I lay down on the couch and closed my eyes, falling asleep. I heard an explosion, but thought it was just a truck compacting scrap metal. My grandmother was standing near the window and saw what looked like hail flying over the field. At that moment, a powerful rocket flew by, and my heart turned cold. Cars began beeping. Grandmother came into the hall and said: "Is Putin really starting a war with Ukraine?" For the first time in my life, a war has begun! . . . Everyone knows what the word war means. But practically no one knows what this word really represents. Everyone says it's terrible, scary. But no one knows how much fear the word conceals. We started getting dressed. I had a panic attack; my teeth chattered and my hands were trembling. Fear surrounded me. My grandmother clasped a gold chain with a cross around my neck, and put the rest of the gold jewelry in a box in the closet. We ran out into the street and headed to the basement. I had another panic attack. Explosions, sounds, fear--that is all that was in my head. Excerpted from You Don't Know What War Is, by Yeva Skalietska. Copyright © 2022 Yeva Skalietska. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpted from You Don't Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine by Union Square & Co., Yeva Skalietska All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.