The Voice of Thunder

West Jerusalem, early June 1967. Ten-year-old Mira Levi and her best friend Gili Moser share an awful secret. They have discovered a new radio station called The Voice of Thunder. Broadcasting from Cairo in accented Hebrew, it threatens the obliteration of Israel: "We will throw you and your whole country into the sea. We will march in your streets and into your homes." On June 5 the attack begins and Mira and Gili's school is hit. War has begun. The two friends and their families are confined to a basement shelter of their apartment complex while the battle continues above. Mira, afraid of what might happen and worried about her father fighting on the front, prays for safety and wonders: "In a war where both sides are praying, how does God know which prayers to answer?" As the international crisis unfolds, Mira struggles to verbalize her concerns about family, friendship and the future of her nation. Only in her diary can she express her fear that none of them will survive this conflict. "There are too few books for middle grade and young adult readers about modern Israeli history in all its complexity and nuance. It’s a vital topic and ought to be more often addressed. Here’s one book that offers a slice of that history and can start an excellent dialogue." --The Jewish Book Council "Breen takes young readers on a fascinating journey in the middle of Jerusalem, Israel, and the Six Day War. Like the journal of Anne Frank, we get a glimpse into what it was like to be a Jew in an antagonistic world. THE VOICE OF THUNDER will move you to the edge of your seat as you witness this harrowing time in the life of a fifth grade Israeli Jewish girl, Mira. It will also leave you with a smile." ~ Pam Calvert, author of The Multiplying Menace series and other books for children “Historical events of the Arab-Israeli Six Day War in the summer of 1967 become the human story of two pre-teen girls in a Jerusalem apartment complex discerning the causes of war. Who is on the right side? Where is God? Gili and Mira live out the war amid a well-drawn supporting cast, and descriptions of their milieu both vivid and spare. This book fleshes out a deep wisdom concerning human prejudice and violence, a wisdom reinforced with effective poetic imagery and moments of human warmth. Readers of any age will learn from the secrets, prayers, and dreams of these characters.” ~ Shannon E. Hengen, Ph.D., literary critic and professor emerita of Canadian and women's literature at Laurentian University Read more