• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 7 to 12
• Reading age: 12 to 18

From award-winning verse novelist Shari Green comes an unforgettable story of friendship, first love, and an impossible choice between integrity and duty, family and friends, all while fighting for a dream.

Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams is a historical YA novel in verse that centers around a young pianist in East Germany trying to make sense of love, duty, and the pursuit of dreams during the unsettled months of protest that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in the late 1980s. Written in stunning lyrical verse, Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams is a story of hope, courage, romance, and the power of music not only to change lives, but to save them.

Shari Green spent a large portion of her childhood summers reading stacks of library books, and she’s still in love with stories today. Her acclaimed novels for young readers include Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess, which was a USBBY Outstanding International Book, a Junior Library Guild selection, the winner of the ALA Schneider Family Middle School Book Award, and a finalist for a dozen reader’s choice awards. Missing Mike was nominated for ten reader’s choice awards and selected as an NCTE Notable Poetry Book, among many other honors. Shari lives in Campbell River, British Columbia.

Shari Green's profile page

"This racing heartbeat of a verse novel had me on the edge of my seat, wondering what life and death choices Helena might make." (Marsha Skrypuch, author of Making Bombs for Hitler and Winterkill)

"Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams transports readers to the peaceful protests in Leipzig, Germany in 1989 that contribute to the opening of borders throughout East Germany--to freedom. But freedom isn't a quick or easy path for gifted pianist Helena, who must consider her own dreams, her family's safety, and her new boyfriend's secret plans--especially when a Stasi officer wants to know what she's hiding. A powerful story about raising your voice told in gorgeous, musical poetry." (Kip Wilson, author of White Rose and The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin)

"Emotionally resonant and masterfully crafted.

In the German Democratic Republic during the latter months of 1989, a 16-year-old girl faces the realities of her government’s violent control of its people.

Helena’s life in Leipzig revolves around music. An avid pianist, she imagines someday becoming a conductor and using the power of music “to stir people / to dreams. Imagining / the possibility lets loose / butterflies within me.” Constraints about people’s life choices in the GDR, and her mother’s practical concerns over her future, leave her career plans uncertain. For Helena, music is her path to freedom and a form of release from the oppression surrounding her. But after her best friend escapes to Austria during a rush on the border, Helena joins her father in protesting the intolerable conditions in which they live. Under constant observation by the Stasi and with new travel restrictions in place, citizens are unable to leave the country, and their expressions of dissent are violently shut down. Helena’s narrative is a moving piece of historical fiction that is detailed, well researched, and remarkable in its ability to transport readers into another era.

Written in verse, this lyrical novel masterfully tackles the complicated issues of political oppression, police brutality, and nonviolent acts of resistance. The poems vary in length and style, emphasizing major themes and important moments with delicate artistry." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Crafted as intricately as a Bach concerto, SONG OF FREEDOM, SONG OF DREAMS swept me into a historical world as well researched and compellingly depicted as it is relevant to today’s reader." (Joy McCullough, author of Blood Water Paint and Enter the Body)