School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Elsa and her grandmother Dounia can't fall asleep one night, and the little girl begs the older woman to share the reason for her sadness. Dounia recounts her experience as a Jewish child in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1942. Heartbreaking incidents, such as being ostracized by a teacher and former friends or having to don a yellow a star, are told from a child's perspective, filled with confusion and innocence. Eventually, the little girl is hidden under a panel in her family's wardrobe as police vandalize her home and arrest her parents. Neighbors, the Pericards, rescue Dounia and adopt her while they try to locate her mother and father, who have been transferred to a concentration camp. Dauvillier doesn't shy away from the brutal truth in this portrayal of the Holocaust. Interspersed with Dounia's flashbacks are present-day moments of dialogue between the narrator and Elsa, which are depicted in brown and tan hues. Elsa asks questions and offers comments that young readers might also be grappling with while reading this tale. Lizano's stylized illustrations depict characters with oversize heads, reminiscent of "Peanuts" comics, giving this difficult subject an age-appropriate touch. The subdued palette of blues and greens match the story's tone, and the plethora of images highlighting meals, country scenes, and family time places more emphasis on the people who helped one another during this terrible period than on the heinous acts committed. The final image, one of familial love and peace, will pull heartstrings. Pair this poignant graphic novel with Lois Lowry's Number the Stars (Houghton Mifflin, 1989).-Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Dauvillier's graphic novel about a Jewish girl's survival in France during the Holocaust balances the cruelty of the persecution she experiences with the miraculous generosity of her neighbors. Lizano's artwork, too, lightens the story's grimmer moments-the outsize heads and pin-dot eyes of the characters are almost reminiscent of the Peanuts gang. Dounia Cohen, now a grandmother, recalls for her granddaughter the growing strictures on the lives of Jews, culminating one terrible night with the arrival of the police; her parents have seconds to hide her before they're taken away. After the Pericards, trusted neighbors, take Dounia in, Mr. Pericard is betrayed. Dounia, consumed up until then with her own grief, realizes that the war causes pain for others: "I think it's from that moment on that I no longer wanted to cry." Dounia's confusion and sorrow as she waits for her parents' return (her mother survives, her father doesn't) are drawn with perception and care. That Dounia chooses to tell her young granddaughter a story she has never revealed to her own son conveys both the persistence of grief and the possibility of healing. Ages 6-up. (Apr.)? (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.