The Boy on the Bridge

Standiford, Natalie. The Boy on the Bridge. New York: Scholastic Press, 2013. 

A College student named Laura Reid studies abroad in Leningrad, Russia during the Cold War. Laura wants to get to know Russia better and she meets a Russian boy named Alyosha.  Laura gets to know more about Russia and the culture, but it is dangerous for Laura because she is American.  She becomes close to Alysha and he wants to come to America with Laura, but nowhere is safe for them because of the Cold War.
The author has written a romance between Laura and Alyosha. Natalie's writing is easily understandable as well and is very interesting.  She makes the story suspenseful because of the Cold War.  An example of her suspense writing is ...:she walked back to the dorm alone, just in case Ivan the guard happened to be looking out the window".
There are no illustrations within the book, so the reader has to imagine the illustrations.  The cover of the book does grasp the reader. The buildings in the background are beautiful and it looks like there is a lot of romance between the two people. So the cover of the book is watercolor.
I like the book.  It gives more insight on what it was like during the Cold War, with a twist of romance.  The romance adds suspense, which made me interested the whole time.  I would recommend it or older kids in middle grades because there is history involved.  I would give this book to ninth graders because they learn more about Russia in this grade. The only thing is that middle graders won't relate well to college students or romance well.

Reviewer: Krista Kavalauskas