Escape to West Berlin by Maurine Dahlberg

After World War II, the country of Germany was divided up and ruled by four different countries. The Soviet Union took control of East Germany and the United States, Great Britain and France took control of West Germany. The country of West Germany prospered while the country of East Germany became poorer. The Soviets dreamed of creating the perfect socialist society in East Germany but it did not happen. For the first few years, people were allowed to cross between the two countries with little problem. But in 1961, the East German government decided to close the border and not allow any more crossings. For Heidi and her family, this posed a very big problem. Her father had been working in West Berlin for many years and loved his job. But now he was being told that he could no longer work in the west. When the family decides to escape to West Berlin, they must be very secretive about their plans. But the crossing is going to be a lot harder than they thought.