It is always difficult to find good books about the Holocaust, but especially those for young children. Whether a close or distant relative is a survivor, or whether there are relatives that unfortunately did not survive, or even to inform younger children about what happened to the Jews and others at the hand of the Nazis. Equally important is to tell the story of those righteous gentiles that saved so many Jews and others, hiding them, at extreme danger to themselves and their families, to show children, and all who read this simple but emotional and deep story, that there will always be those who will not let evil win in the hard world.

Beautifully done. ( )

A little girl staying over at her grandmother's house wakes up and finds her grandmother in the living room, sad. Elsa asks her grandmother if it was a nightmare ("you could say that") and says that when she has nightmares, it helps to talk about them. With this invitation, the grandmother shares her history: she was a child in France in the 1940s. She had to wear a Jewish star to school, then stopped going to school altogether; her parents were taken in the night, but hid her, and a neighbor took her in. Members of the Resistance helped them escape to the countryside, where they lived on a farm, and later, they were reunited with the neighbor's husband and with Dounia/Simone's mother - but her father never returned from the camps.

Just as the adults in her life tried to protect her from painful knowledge, adult Dounia never told her son her story. In a touching coda at the end of the book, she tells him that she told Elsa, and he replies, "I know that the reason you never told me was that you wanted to protect me. I don't blame you....I just wanted to let you know that I'm very happy and very proud that you told her."

See also: Catherine's War (YA), Number the Stars

Quotes

I didn't understand how being Jewish made me different from the other girls in my class. (15)

It was hard...but we were together. (23)

p. 53: page is divided into four panels with the gutters making an X shape; each panel shows a different season, to illustrate time passing

I didn't know what a camp was...and no one would explain it to me. They weren't being mean. They wanted to protect me. (63) ( )

This book is incredible. It tells the story of a young girl whose life is derailed by the Holocaust in such a beautifully simple way. Dounia, who lives a simple, yet happy life with her parents is unphased when her father brings home golden star-shaped badges for her family to wear to become "sherrifs". However, in the pages following we see the toll the star takes on her life when it leads to the persecution of her family and neighbors. Dounia must face months alone, not knowing if her parents are alive, with strangers posing as her parents. Dounia demonstrates bravery and eloquence waiting to reunite with them again.

I used this story to teach a unit on the Holocaust and I had several kids want to check it out right away. It is honest without being graphic, and sad with glints of hope.

I think this story is very well done, presenting a young girls' perspective on the holocaust. However, it is somewhat confusing because she never talks about the greater context of the war at all, or the ending of it -- in that sense it is brilliantly true to a child's point of view, but it can be disorienting for older readers. ( )

A child wakes up to crying, and finds her grandmother, Dounia, is the source. The grandmother reveals why she is crying, and the real story begins. Dounia was uprooted as a child, and forced to move from place to place as she was 'hidden' by friends and neighbors for her protection against the Nazis. Dounia's account takes place during WW2, during the Nazi occupation of France. It is a historical fiction book that if read to an appropriate audience, maybe a mature fourth grade, or fifth grade classroom, can help teach about the shortcomings and brutality of mankind without the gory details, while also teaching about perseverance, and kindness. ( )