From the Bookshelf of La Crescent Public Library…

[close] For her first 30 years living in the United States, Mary Rostad never shared her story as a teenager working for the French Underground. She first shared parts of her story with her Girl Scouts, and once she started, as she states, "the dam burst." This book, Squirrel Is Alive, is the culmination of the story she has since shared with thousands of students all over the Coulee Region.

Mary shares her experience as a teenager in the Belgian Resistance and French Underground. She was 16 years old when the Nazis first invaded Belgium in 1940. At age 18, she left home without saying good-bye to her family, without identification papers, with no food, no extra clothes, and no plans for where to stay, and began her trek across Belgium and France, sharing information about the movements of the German Army. She walked from contact to contact, safe house to safe house, constantly dodging close calls with Nazis.

Her story begins with background information and history of Belgium and France, including the aftermath of WWI that led to WWII. She shares insight into her family, especially her mother's resourcefulness in wartime. Her story continues after the war, when she met her American husband and moved to Minnesota for the first time. Mary's story concludes with the eulogy her friend and colleague Darryle Clott shared at her funeral, months before the book itself was published. While the book focuses mostly on the war, the eulogy brings out many of Mary's human qualities, her life as a wife, mother, friend, colleague, nurse, Girl Scout leader, and hero.

What an incredible story of a brave teenager who did the right thing in spite of the dangers. She saw injustice, and even though she was not part of the targeted group, she did what she could to stand up for what was right.

~ Emily