This was a book that everyone needs to read. It brings the reality of war much closer. The day by day account is written really well. The texts with her friends were particularly poignant, doing something so normal but the texts are about bombs and war. Highly recommended.

Such and amazing true story taken from the diary of a 12 year old Ukrainian girl written during the early weeks following the Russian invasion. It is a story of great courage by someone so young faced with the complete devastation of the life she had so far known. It is easy sometimes to feel hard done by in life without ever realising how bad life can be for other people and it was humbling to read about such bravery.
Perhaps this book should be given to pupils in our schools to give a better understanding of life in a war zone.

This is a true story told in diary form by 12 year old Yeva from Ukraine.
10 days after her 12th birthday (Valentine's Day 2022), she was violently woken up at 5.10am by an explosion near her home. Russian had declared war & her childhood would be taken away from her. Estranged from her divorced parents due to work commitments, Yeva lived with her granny & with her resourcefulness and friends, they escape from war torn Khakiv. They leave with very little & no papers, and, at one checkpoint, they meet some C4 journalists who help them get to hungary.
An amazing journey by one of many brave young people & an inspiration to us all.

What a well documented diary Yeva has managed to write in absolutely horrendous conditions brought about Putins war with Ukraine. Yeva explains exactly what she, her family and friends as well as everyone caught up in this war have experienced - all have shown remarkable strength and courage. We can only hope and pray this war will end soon and everyone can somehow manage to deal with what they have been through. Thank you and very well done Yeva giving us first hand account of the conditions you have had to cope with.

Absolutely heart breaking! I knew this would be a tough read and yet I felt it was important to understand what life was like for Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Yeva is between my 2 children in age and it breaks my heart to think of her experiencing such atrocities and having to be so grown up and resilient when she should be playing and laughing and worrying about homework!

Her diary really allows us to understand what people have been and continue to go through. I am so pleased that she found support and quick passage to safety but I know many others were not so lucky. Despite her “luck” she and her granny have still experienced the unimaginable and have lost their home.

A difficult but important read.

At a time when the war in Ukraine is still ongoing and still in the forefronts of our minds I was fascinated to read about it from an inside perspective. I thought it would be an amazing way to connect and empathise as much as possible with a situation we've not been in. As I read, I found myself switched off, I could not connect with the character at all. I'm not sure if it was the style of writing or what but I found this difficult to read, and not because of the content. I am determined to try again to read it and if I change my mind I will update this review to reflect that.

I spent a long time trying to think what to say about Yeva’s book, but it’s very simple really, you must read this book. Her account of escaping the war in Ukraine is profoundly moving and expressed with an eloquence beyond her years. Yeva is right, most of us will never really know what war is and for that we should feel incredibly fortunate. An essential read for both adults and children wanting to understand the war in Ukraine from a child’s point of view.

You don't know what is is the diary of a young girl who was forced to evacuate during the 2022 Ukraine War. We follow Yeva in the days leading up to the war, her stay in basements, evacuation from home and eventually her befriending of Channel 4 producers who assist her and her Gran flying to Ireland.

Told in the first person through her diary entries this is a heartwrenching read, and something no one should ever have to experience. Intwined with News Articles from various sources about the news, alongside Whatsapp group messages from her friends, the book is a brief insight into what people experienced after the invasion in Ukraine occured. I think this is such an important book for us all to read, enabling us all to learn the feelings of the children impacted by this war. Yeva did an excellent job of trying to bring her experiences to life but I think no one can ever imagine what it really feels like.

A short but extremely impactful read.

This diary is written by 12 year old Yeva, a Ukrainian girl in the midst of the war. It follows 12 days that changed her life as she knew it.
It is a harrowing and gripping read and it will not fail to touch your heart. Such bravery.

This is such a powerful read. It is one thing to watch the news and read the daily newspapers to make you believe you can have some understanding of the horrors of war, yet to read this raw, honest, simple emotional diary of a 12 year old girl living through it is another thing altogether. Yeva is right, you can’t possibly know what war is unless you’ve lived it first hand. To read her experience, to witness her bravery and to see her still have such faith and hope for the future, both for her family and her friends, wherever they might be, is truly humbling. The mix of diary entries, headlines, photos and text messages all add to the stark reality of the events Yeva lived through.
This is a book that should be in every school. As Michael Morpurgo rightly says, it is all the more powerful and shocking when you read from a child’s lived experience.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for a review.
Thanks to Yeva for documenting her experience and sharing it.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a preview copy of the book. I was really intrigued to read this. I hadn’t been reading any media coverage of the war, so I thought reading it through the eyes of a 12 year old girl would be more revealing and meaningful, as I work with children of this age. What a powerful read from start to end. The insight that Yeva gives into the war is so moving and it makes you feel as if you are going through it with her. I was impressed with the maturity of writing for a 12 year old. It is not written to seek pity from people, in my opinion, but to inform them of what is truly going on. The media don’t make things personal, but this is a close look into how a families life changed as a result of the Ukraine war. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get a better idea of what has been going on, and how families have been displaced from their homes. I’m so pleased that Yeva made it to safety and it was fascinating following her on her journey to get there.

You don’t know what war is? By yeva skalietska

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a really hard book to review so apologies for keeping this short and sweet.
This book for the most part is the diary of one teenage girl starting just before the war began in Ukraine and following her as she travels to Ireland. It also (and very touchingly tells the story of a few of her closest friends and their stories of the war).
It is a very short book but extremely heartbreaking. It really made me take a step back and evaluate how my life would be if one day all my countless little insignificant problems that I worry about became reduced to one major problem , that of staying alive and keeping my loved ones safe.

I feel that the more time passes the less the war is thought about so at times like this it is more important than ever to remember the brave people of Ukraine, what they have lost and what they are still fighting for

I will be recommending this book to my students (12 year olds)

This is a very special book. Written in diary form; it tells how Yeva and grandmother experience the horror of war first hand. It is interspersed with newspaper headlines which record how the events in Ukraine were reported around the world.

I wish the author all the best in life. She is a beautiful soul!

This book is written by a 12 year girl called Yeva who thankful to God for getting her out of the situation. She describes what is like living in Russian whilst the war is happening. How she left her family, friends, school and home to move to different places to eventually moving to Dublin with her granny with the help and support from Channel 4. She mentions the noise of the bombs, this must have been very scary for her. It was an enjoyable book, and makes you appreciate what it must be like living in the war.

I am blown away by this young ladies writing. It is powerful and moving in its innocence. Yeva has a powerful voice for someone so young, her writing has clarity and the telling of her story, in diary form, from the beginning of the war in Ukraine is inspiring.

Yeva is the same age as my granddaughter and they are similar in many ways. I found her accounts of the war from a young person's eyes very emotional and inspiring.

With an excellent forward by Michael Morpurgo this book is a must read. She is a modern-day Anne frank and her story is just as compelling. It will enlighten young and old about how it really feels to be caught up in a conflict.

I would struggle to be able to review this book due to issues with the file/download. The issues stopped the flow of the book. The issues are:
- Missing words in the middle of sentences
- Stop/start sentences on different lines
- No clear definition of chapters.

Not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps and stops/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me. I would be more than happy to re-read the book with a better file or as a physical book as the book topic and genre are of interest to me. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

Thank you so much Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the Diary of Yeva, a 12 year old who until February of this year (2022) was happily growing up with her friends and family in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Enjoying life and her 12th Birthday completely unaware of how her life was going to be shattered just a few days later. This Diary is what she remembers of this terrible time and her journey to safety. Whilst the subject is really grim, I enjoyed this book and think everyone should read it at least once. We don’t know what War is, we can’t really know until we’ve been there and nobody would want to be there!
I enjoyed seeing the photographs throughout too. I want to understand better what these innocent children had to go through, and this book is a good place to start. This book is out soon, I’ll definitely be getting myself a hard copy. It is definitely worth a read!
If you enjoy this book then I would also recommended Zlata’s Diary, a book I was given when I was 12 years old from my Headmaster’s wife because I helped in the Library. It must be nearly 30 years old but it’s a book I’ll always treasure!

A very interesting diary written by twelve year old Yeva about the early days of the attack on Ukraine by Putin’s forces. It covers the onslaught on Kharkiv which must have been terrifying but that terror doesn’t quite come across in Yeva’s writing. But it’s a powerful story, aimed at a younger audience than me and one that I am sure will become a standard text. With thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Yeva for the e-ARC of the book to read and review. I read it on my iPad rather than my kindle as the photos display better there.

This is a very difficult review to write. The war in Ukraine has now been going on for six months. This diary written by a twelve year old shows all the pain of anyone who has had to leave their home during conflict. The testimonies of Yeva and her friends are all the more startling because they are so immediate and include some of the text trails which took place. Many of the comments are so mature and I was reminded whilst reading this of “Zlata’s Diary” written about the Bosnian conflict by an eleven year old in the early 1990s. Both girls voice the view that they are people how can they be treated this way?

This book should be widely available in schools, it should be used to help pupils understand what it is like to loose your home and your homeland. I hope it does not become another war diary and forgotten about as I am afraid has happened to Zlata Filiponivic’s book.. The feelings expressed in both books are too important for that.

I was offered this book as an ARC via NetGalley. I can see why this book has been compared to Anne Frank's diary but, personally, this book does not have the same resonance. I did read Frank's diary when I was at school and much of the poignancy comes from what is left unsaid. Don't get me wrong, I am delighted that Yeva Skalkietska has not had to endure a similar fate. For me a large portion of the book focuses on the "luck" of meeting the right people and getting her diary published whereas the earliest entries were the most interesting.

This book may appeal to or resonate more strongly with children of a similar age to the author. Anything that helps children to understand or empathise with those in war zones can only be a good thing.