{"id":24944,"date":"2014-09-16T22:19:55","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T02:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=24944"},"modified":"2014-09-16T22:19:55","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T02:19:55","slug":"review-of-hidden-by-loic-dauvillier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=24944","title":{"rendered":"Review of Hidden, by Lo\u00efc Dauvillier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hidden_large\"<\/a>Hidden<\/p>\n

A Child\u2019s Story of the Holocaust<\/em><\/p>\n

written by Lo\u00efc Dauvillier
\nillustrated by Marc Lizano
\ncolor by Greg Salsedo
\ntranslated by Alexis Siegel<\/p>\n

First Second Books, New York, 2014. Originally published in French in 2012. 76 pages.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

Hidden<\/em> is a graphic novelization of a grandmother telling her granddaughter about her experiences during the Holocaust. The graphic novel form makes this a gentle way to introduce the Holocaust to children. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to tell the ending in my review, so you know where the story goes and can judge if your child is ready for it. The pictures in the graphic novel format add to the power. And the frame of the grandmother telling the story lets you know right away that she will survive.<\/p>\n

Dounia lived in Paris during the occupation by the Germans. At first, when her family is forced to wear the yellow stars, her father tells her they have all become sheriffs. She wears the star proudly, but quickly learns the truth when she is ostracized in school and told to sit at the back of the classroom. <\/p>\n

Eventually, when the Nazis come for her family, Dounia is hidden under the false floor of a wardrobe. Their downstairs neighbors take her in after her parents have been taken away. But eventually, she must leave Paris. However, a woman sees Dounia and starts shouting for the police, so the father runs, and the mother must go with Dounia into hiding on a farm in the countryside.<\/p>\n

Dounia, who now is called Simone, does make it through the war, because of the help of the people who hide her. After the war, they find her mother, looking gaunt and skeletal. They never do find her father.<\/p>\n

And this is the story the grandmother tells her granddaughter in the night. The next day we learn that her son \u2013 the granddaughter\u2019s father \u2013 has never heard the story. But he\u2019s proud and happy that his daughter knows. And they end with a group hug. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard not to be moved by this story. It\u2019s told from the perspective of a little girl who didn\u2019t know what was going on. There\u2019s not a lot of commentary, but the reader can easily see that the situation is not fair.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one interruption in the story, flashing back to the grandmother and granddaughter, after people are first mean to Dounia at school.<\/p>\n

Your daddy was a liar!
\nNo, of course not!
\nThen why did he tell you you were a sheriff?
\nMy daddy didn\u2019t want to hurt me. He made up that story to protect me.
\nOkay, but then, why were they mean to you at school? They really didn\u2019t like Jews?
\nI don\u2019t know . . . I don\u2019t think so. I think they didn\u2019t know what to do. We were just children.
\nAnd the teacher? She was a grown-up!
\nSometimes we do things without thinking, too.
\nWell, she was wrong.
\nYes, I think you\u2019re right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I like that simple evaluation of the situation. There\u2019s a lot more that can be said, but this sums it up nicely.<\/p>\n

A powerful book.<\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Fiction\/hidden.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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