The unimaginable is made alive, heart-wrenching, and reachable for modern young readers.
It is Berlin in 1941, and the Nazis have further escalated their search for Jews to deport to the concentration camps.
Lillian Frey and her father, who is blind, run through the night to a promised safe place at Otto Weidt’s factory, which is contracted to supply brushes to the army. His employees are blind Jews. Weidt is not Jewish, but he too is blind and at risk of deportation or murder by the Nazis for this disability. The factory contains a secret room where the workers, who have developed close friendships, can hide in an emergency. Weidt arranges for safe housing, where Lillian and her father are fed and well cared for by their kind landlady. But their safety remains precarious at best, for the Gestapo is always watching. When the workers are brought to the trains for deportation, all seems lost. Weidt uses every possible means to rescue them, threatening to report the Gestapo agents for endangering the army and providing bribes to secure their release. Kacer creates the fictional Freys and has12-year-old Lillian narrate the events in a voice that is true, strong, and wise beyond her years. In a detailed afterword the author presents the biographies, backgrounds, and outcomes of Weidt and several of the real workers. Otto Weidt’s compassion, strength, and bravery have led to his recognition as Righteous Among Nations at Yad Vashem, and with this novel, Kacer brings him to life for children.
The unimaginable is made alive, heart-wrenching, and reachable for modern young readers. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77260-138-1
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Second Story Press
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An outstanding new edition of this popular modern classic (Newbery Award, 1961), with an introduction by Zena Sutherland and...
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-395-53680-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
PROFILES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
