I received an ARC from First Second Books through NetGalley (Pub. April 1, 2014)
5 Stars
"Hidden" is a very unique, artistic tale about the Holocaust. It is a graphic novel. A grandmother is telling her granddaughter about her past as a French Jewish girl during the Holocaust. Her parents try to protect her from the hurt that comes along with being Jewish as that time. When people come to take them away, her parents manage to save her. Thankfully there are enough kind people around to get her through the rest of the war and help her wait to find her parents.
This is an honestly realistic story. The end of the book has a page that tells about how French Jewish people were affected by the Holocaust and about how the Resistance was able to save so many children. The story itself shows how people were hidden, how they helped save the children, and how some people did not survive. It also briefly touches on the reality of life after the Holocaust, how some people came back and some didn't, and how the ones that came back didn't come back whole.
The added perspective of the elderly grandmother telling her granddaughter the story makes this even more personal, and it adds a new lesson for the readers. Dounia (the main character, the little girl that was helped, turned into the grandmother telling the story) teachers her granddaughter to cherish the time with her family. Unfortunately, you never know when you will be separated, either for a short time, or for forever. Also, Dounia was never able to share this story with her own son, so he has to think about it to understand why she is now able to share it with her granddaughter.
This is a powerful story packed into a quick little book. I don't read a lot of graphic novels, but this one was great. It is a good introduction to the Holocaust to children. It tells a side of the story that isn't always shared, from a child avoiding the camps. The illustrations match the mood of the story. This really is a winning book
No comments:
Post a Comment