And secondly, The Borrowed House is one of those rare novels that adults can appreciate just as well as teens can. Maybe you should read this one yourself before handing it to your child, because first of all, it won’t be the right book for every young person. Nothing explicit or illicit, but the romantic subtext is there.
And there is a developing romance between twelve year old Janna and an older resident of the borrowed house that Janna and her parents live in. Janna is an unusual twelve year old, and she sees and understands things that most twelve year olds wouldn’t even think about. The Borrowed House is YA because it deals with mature themes of racism and indoctrination and trust and adultery in a way that is nuanced and complicated and respectful of the maturity of its audience.
And it’s not YA because of explicit sex or even violence, although there is some of the latter as the author describes the violence against Jews and others in Holland where Janna goes to join her parents. The Borrowed House is a young adult story, not because it’s about a teenager Janna is only twelve years old in the book. Most of all, Janna is proud to be German and Aryan, and not a member of those inferior Jewish or Slavic races. Janna is also proud of having been chosen to play Brunhilde in the upcoming play that her youth group is going to perform, the story of Siegfried and Brunhilde from Hitler’s favorite opera by Wagner. She’s proud of her parents, famous actors, who have left Janna in Germany while they tour and entertain the troops of the Reich.
Janna is proud of her membership in the Hitler Youth.
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