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No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War Review

Born into a comfortable home in Krakow, Poland during the 1930s, Hanusia finds her childhood abruptly ripped from her at age five, when she must flee from the Nazis simply because she is a Jew. Hanusia's father left in the middle of the night, and no one has heard from him since; while her mother is trying to maintain a job under false papers. Young Hanusia's only got her brother, two years younger, and her beloved nanny, Niania.

When leaving the city for the countryside stops being a refuge for the children, Niania decides to take them to the remote village where she grew up. Thus, the next few years are spent, wandering the countryside to barter for food and struggling to survive day to day.

Eventually, the children's luck runs out. Hanusia is ten and her brother eight when they are taken on a Nazi transport to a concentration camp. Yet despite the horrors, something or someone continues to look out for them -- and Hanusia, who has long considered herself partially Catholic, thanks to Niania's influence -- couldn't really say which faith is keeping her alive.

After the war, Hanusia's tuberculosis lands her in Sweden, a beautiful land of plenty where she and her brother are eventually reunited with their parents and given a chance for a new life. Yet how does a person get past such horrors, especially when she scarcely remembers what it was like to live otherwise? How does a person even begin to live again with parents she scarcely remembers?

Throughout this book, Lobel's voice is simple, clearly that of the child she was -- no matter what obstacles tried to take that from her. She states things as she sees them, and at no point does she appear to feel sorry for herself. Instead, young Hanusia is an inspiration to us all.

No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War Feature

ISBN13: 9780061565892
Condition: New
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No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War Overview

Anita Lobel was barely five years old when World War II began and the Nazis burst into her home in Kraków, Poland. Her life changed forever. She spent her childhood in hiding with her brother and their nanny, moving from countryside to ghetto to convent—where the Nazis finally caught up with them.

Since coming to the United States as a teenager, Anita has spent her life making pictures. She has never gone back. She has never looked back. Until now.

No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War Specifications

Nominated for a 1998 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War is Anita Lobel's gripping memoir of surviving the Holocaust. A Caldecott-winning illustrator of such delightful picture books as On Market Street, it is difficult to believe Lobel endured the horrific childhood she did. From age 5 to age 10, Lobel spent what are supposed to be carefree years hiding from the Nazis, protecting her younger brother, being captured and marched from camp to camp, and surviving completely dehumanizing conditions. A terrifying story by any measure, Lobel's memoir is all the more haunting as told from the first-person, child's-eye view. Her girlhood voice tells it like it is, without irony or even complete understanding, but with matter-of-fact honesty and astonishing attention to detail. She carves vivid, enduring images into readers' minds. On hiding in the attic of the ghetto: "We were always told to be very quiet. The whispers of the trapped grown-ups sounded like the noise of insects rubbing their legs together." On being discovered while hiding in a convent: "They lined us up facing the wall. I looked at the dark red bricks in front of me and waited for the shots. When the shouting continued and the shots didn't come, I noticed my breath hanging in thin puffs in the air." On trying not to draw the attention of the Nazis: "I wanted to shrink away. To fold into a small invisible thing that had no detectable smell. No breath. No flesh. No sound."

It is a miracle that Lobel and her brother survived on their own in this world that any adult would find unbearable. Indeed, and appropriately, there are no pretty pictures here, and adults choosing to share this story with younger readers should make themselves readily available for explanations and comforting words. (The camps are full of excrement and death, all faithfully recorded in direct, unsparing language.) But this is a story that must be told, from the shocking beginning when a young girl watches the Nazis march into Krakow, to the final words of Lobel's epilogue: "My life has been good. I want more." (Ages 10 to 16) --Brangien Davis

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Customer Reviews

MOVING! well written page-turner - M Shan, ATX USA -
A sad but wonderful story! Mrs. Lobel's book captures the utter loss of humanity that proliferated in Europe during WWII at the hands of a group powerful political zealots (Nazis). More young people should read accounts that document the senselessness surrounding these atrocities. If we understand where we as a civilization have come from we can work together to ensure that we NEVER, never repeat such horrors in the future.

Another great story of the tragic consequences of the Holocaust - Animal Lover - Wisconsin
A very good book. it is unimaginable to think that two young children had to go through such terrible things! Many many children had to experience these tragic events, this is just the story of two of them.

Book Every Middle School Child Should Read! - Alabama Teacher - Cullman, AL
This book should be required reading for every Middle School child during their study of the Holocaust! The author makes you feel as if you were right there with her during the horrific experiences she went through as a young child with her younger brother.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 28, 2010 14:36:05

Children's Books

Saturday, August 28, 2010