Notes

The story of a young girl from Cold War East Berlin forced to spy for the secret police... but who is determined to escape to freedom.

Twelve-year-old Sophie has spent her entire life behind the Berlin Wall, guarded by land mines, towers, and attack dogs. A science lover, Sophie dreams of becoming an inventor... even though that's not likely on her side of the Wall, where the Stasi, the secret police, are always watching.

Though she tries to avoid their notice, when her beloved neighbor is arrested, Sophie is called to her principal's office. There, a young Stasi officer asks Sophie if she'll spy on her neighbor as an informant once she is released. Sophie doesn't want to agree, but in reality has no choice: The Stasi threaten that her mother, who has a disability from post-polio syndrome, could be taken to an institution if Sophie does not comply.

Sophie is backed into a corner, until she learns secrets about her family on the other side of the Wall. This could be what she needs to attempt an escape with her mother to freedom -- if she can invent her way out.