BRUNO AND KARIN OF BERLIN

Wedged into a non-fiction series, this photo story is a fictionalized view of the trauma and ambivalence of the Berlin refugee. Karin (13) had recently crawled through a tunnel to the west, leaving her parents in East Berlin; her cousins (two of them also escapees), band together with their parents and grandparents to combat the nightmares and depressions which trouble her. The background and part of the book's objective is life in West Berlin balanced with some recollections of post-war Germany and a commendably fair view of East Berlin as subject to political and ideological repression but benefiting from economic and social progress. Simple sentence structure and large print make this unsuitable for the reader mature enough to appreciate the very real psychological and sociopolitical problems presented; occasional over-glorification of the U.S. and some deliberate heart-rending mar an otherwise pointed tale of two cities. Karin and Bruno are ordinary-looking, expressive young people; the photos are sometimes posed, sometimes revealing.