Katusha: Girl Soldier of the Great Patriotic War

World War II was one of the most destructive conflicts in history. It not only impacted armies and the way we fought, but it also had a major impact on civilians who were caught in the middle. With many written accounts of the war, it was only a matter of time before graphic novels came out about the war, and this one is part of the small, but growing, number of historical graphic novels about World War II. We follow Katusha, a young lady on the verge of adulthood in Ukraine when Nazi Germany invades. All of a sudden she is forced to grow up and hide from the Germans and the Russians while also helping save her family, neighbors, and friends. Eventually she finds her way into the Soviet Army and joins a tank battalion, which she stays with all the way until the end in Berlin. This is a spectacular book; it takes the time to tell a complex story, with many moving parts, characters, and events all happening. It looks at how one young lady found herself at different important points and decisions made by those in power, but from the point-of-view of the average soldier.