Tag Archive | East Germany

BIG DIGS: Amazing Underground Constructions, by Kiko Sanchez (kids nonfiction picturebook)

Book cover of Big Digs: Amazing Underground Constructions, by Kiko Sanchez, translated by Marc Correa shows the White House at top, with tunnels, elevators, and several rooms in the earth beneath it.

Secret rooms,
tunnels, aqueducts –
deep below the surface!

The “Tunnel of Contents” shows a wide range of underground projects, each commanding a double-page spread in this oversized book.

From the ancient Gadara Aqueduct carrying water underground for 60 miles in 2nd century Jordan to 3D-printed habitats in caverns under the surface of Mars in the future, each project has a specific purpose.

Both the 3rd century Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Mexico and Quinta da Regaieira in early 1900s Portugal held secret ceremonial sites far below the surface.

The Seoul Subway system is the world’s largest, carrying 7 million people yearly on its 200 miles of underground tracks.

The Delaware Aqueduct carries water to New York City, while the Eastern Discharge Tunnel carries flooding rainwater away from Mexico City.

Some diagrams are so large that you need to turn the book sideways to see them, like the White House Bunker, and the Drummen Spiral where the road to a mountaintop spirals inside the mountain, leaving its trees and animals undisturbed.

By the way – did you know that the Chunnel carrying trains under the English Channel is actually 3 tunnels?

Look for this fascinating array of meticulously hand-drawn scenes with lots of facts and history at your local library https://search.worldcat.org/libraries or independent bookstore https://bookshop.org/ .

How far underground have you gone?
**kmm

Book info: Big Digs: Amazing Underground Constructions / Kiko Sanchez; translated by Marc Correa. Helvetiq, 2026. [author/illustrator https://www.tormentalibros.com/en/illustrators/kiko-sanchez] [publisher site https://helvetiq.com/us/big-digs] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.

H is HOUSE OF ONE THOUSAND EYES, every neighbor a spy, by Michelle Barker (book review)

book cover of The House of One Thousand Eyes, by Michelle Barker. Published by Annick Press | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Beloved storytelling uncle,
Vanished without a trace,
will the Stasi erase Lena, too?

Visiting Uncle Erich is the high point of Lena’s week, as the 17 year old trudges through nights cleaning the Stasi secret police headquarters in East Berlin, but then he’s gone.

Again her brain feels like buzzing wasps, as it did after both parents died in a factory explosion, and Lena finally emerged from the psychiatric hospital and was sent to live with a distant aunt in the city.

Aunt now denies that her own brother even existed, but Lena is certain that she can find information in the Stasi offices, if she can just stay clear of the groping officer who always works late.

In 1980s East Germany, the walls have ears and every neighbor is a spy reporting to the House of One Thousand Eyes so the Stasi can keep their Better Germany safe.

Maybe Uncle’s actor friends from the cafe know where he was taken?
Maybe they can’t trust her because she works for the Stasi!
Maybe they can help her go somewhere safer, past the Wall, to the West?

Step back into Lena’s grey world where the Communist Party punishes original thought, truth cannot be trusted, and yet sometimes the tiniest sprout of hope may stay alive.

Read an excerpt free here, courtesy of the publisher, then check your local library or independent bookseller for the eBook or print copy delivered to you.

What freedoms do we take for granted today?
**kmm

Book info: The House of One Thousand Eyes / Michelle Barker. Annick Press, hardcover 2018, paperback 2019. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.