Gilli Messer conveys 12-year-old Miri's horror as the Nazis who occupy Paris threaten her Jewish family and friends. Miri's terror increases when she is separated from her parents and decides she must flee the citywide roundup of Jews with her 2-year-old neighbor, Nora. Messer convincingly portrays a kindly nun who relocates Miri to a girls' convent school in Chenonceau, a village near Catherine de' Medici's sixteenth-century castle. There Miri evades classmates' questions about her background and eventually circumvents her fear to become a part of courageous refugee rescues. Messer clearly depicts minor characters such as an elderly nun and creates a memorably imperious tone for the ghost of Catherine de' Medici.
(Historical fiction. 9-14)Pub Date: April 9, 2024
Duration: 8 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593744277
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A poignant portrait of bravery.
Graham Halstead’s narration contains layers of emotion that fully reveal the character and growth of 13-year-old Lucas Dubois, an orphan living in 1944 occupied France. Halstead shows Lucas’ compassion as he rescues newborn kittens from being drowned. Lucas’ tenderness extends to a teen mother kept at the Lebensborn, a Nazi maternity home dedicated to producing soldiers-to-be. Lucas delivers groceries and conveys underground messages. Halstead also reveals the prickly nature of Alice, an older teen protecting her horse from being captured by Nazis. Halstead’s performance matches the breakneck pacing when Lucas stands up to German soldiers and confronts his own sense of insecurity.
A poignant portrait of bravery. (Historical fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781250433039
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2026
It's 1975, and eleven-year-old Gao Sheng, a Hmong girl, is living in the highlands of Laos in a one-room house with her family. Then they are forced to flee. Narrator Robyn Morales lends a soft, feminine huskiness to the protagonist's voice as she describes the family's journey to a refugee camp, to gentle and thoughtful effect. The listener is transported alongside Gao Sheng to a new world as she reflects on memory, gender, and family relations in her culture; the events that change her life; and conditions in the refugee camp. An afterword provides context about the author's family's real-life experience. Morales' narration is comforting, even as she describes the difficult circumstances of refugees.
(Verse historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217080861
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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