Linked by Gordon Korman

The 7th-graders of a small western town discover that the Holocaust is “linked” to aspects of their own history.

Linked by Gordon Korman. Scholastic, 2021, 259 pages

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-15

Lincoln (Link) Rowley is known for his personality, athletic ability, and hilarious pranks. His father is not amused, however, when Link and a few pals deposit eighty pounds of fertilizer outside the office of the paleontologists from that snooty New England college. Long story, but the paleontologists discovered fossilized dinosaur excrement near Link’s little town, and his dad now dreams of boosting Chokecherry, Colorado into Dinoland USA. Soon, however, the town acquires a more unsavory reputation by another act of vandalism: a giant swastika painted on the school staircase wall.

Something has to be done, especially when more swastikas appear and a nationally-known YouTuber called ReelTok seizes on the story and won’t let go. “Tolerance Week,” cobbled together by the principal, just makes the kids roll their eyes. But an initiative by students themselves catches fire. Suppose they make a paper chain representing all the Jewish victims of the Holocaust? That adds up to six million links, an impossible goal, but worth a try.

For Link, the project takes on a personal dimension when he learns his own grandmother’s story. At the age of two, as WWII was breaking out over Europe, she was entrusted to French nuns by her Jewish parents. Their sacrifice saved her life (and her descendants). Researching his Jewish heritage, Link comes to the conviction that he needs to study and complete the requirements for a Bar Mitzvah.

His complicated reasons have nothing to do with the truth of Judaism, or any other religion (his family are nominal Christians). Committed Christians rightly have a problem with that, but Link is a work in progress, who has just realized that “My life should be about something, even if I haven’t figured out what it is yet.” It’s time for him to stop focusing on “dumb stuff” and build on something real and meaningful. He’s the emotional heart of the story, but other perspectives chime in: the school booster, the slacker, the creative spark, and the culprit. Linked becomes a story of redemption and forgiveness–and, without saying so directly, an answer to the “cancel culture” that Reeltok represents. All have sinned, and all need forgiveness. Or as one character says, “We all do jerky things. It’s what you do next that matters.”  

Consideration

• The Rabbi who coaches Link toward his Bar Mitzvah explains God’s forgiveness as a gift that “we spend the rest of our lives trying to be worthy of.” It’s worth discussing how that view contrasts with the forgiveness found in Christ.

Overall Rating: 4.25 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.75
• Artistic/literary value: 4.5

Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader

• Reviews: Other books by Gordon Korman are The Unteachables, SuperGifted, Restart, and the Masterminds series.
• Review: Another young man confronts intolerance in The Hero of Birdsong, USA.
• Resource: See our “Books about Racism for Children and Teens” list.

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