LISETTE’S ANGEL

The author of the fine Shake Rag (1998), which made a picture book from the early life of Elvis Presley, takes some memories belonging to her paratrooper father-in-law, among others, and crafts a tale of D-Day for young people. When Lisette is six, German soldiers come to her lovely Normandy town. They confiscate all the goods in Monsieur Lomoine’s shop, and there is little to eat or wear. Lisette prays every night for an angel, and listens in secret to the radio that promises help soon. On the night of June 6, 1944, when her parents are tending a sick neighbor, she and her brother Emile see an angel fall from the sky. It’s a young American soldier, his silk parachute making a shimmering star over their garden. Lisette and her brother hide the soldier in the barn until the Germans pass by, and he leaves them with the parachute and precious chocolate for Emile. Lisette’s mother makes her a silk dress from the material, as shimmering as it was when it brought her and Emile their angel. The palette and textures of Ginsburg’s oils are dark and somber, perhaps a bit more so than the soaring text needs as counterpoint. It’s quite a lovely story, and the images don’t always match in intensity. The GI, however, is jaunty and young and extremely appealing. A new way to bring a bit of WWII history to the youngest of children. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)