DANCING ON THE BRIDGE OF AVIGNON

Rosa, who is Jewish, and her family live in Holland during the Nazi occupation, trying to carry on as normally as possible while friends disappear and evermore restrictions are imposed on them. Rosa retreats from her fear into dreams, until one of them, incredibly, seems to come true: An uncle saves the life of a German general and receives passes to get the entire family out of danger. This has little of the verve of Vos's Anna Is Still Here (1993), but she captures the simpler longings of children in the face of complex horrors. As the senseless restrictions continue to rain down on the family, some sort of terrible duet emerges, of the small insults of childhood against the enormous backdrop of war. (Fiction. 8-12)