It is 1938 and Hitler’s plan to annihilate the Jews has just extended into Vienna. Twelve-year-old Greta Radky knows only one thing to be true in her life—she wants to become a concert pianist like her late brother, Kurt. To make ends meet on a dressmaker’s salary, however, isn’t easy, and it takes considerable acts of persuasion before Greta’s mother (Mutti) agrees not to sell their piano. When Herr Hummel, a reclusive pianist, moves into a nearby apartment, Greta’s uncommon talent comes to light and she’s given the opportunity to shine in a recital at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts. Greta often practices at his apartment so she can rehearse undisturbed. Wishing to repay him, Greta stashes money in a secret compartment within his desk, along with his passport, never knowing that one day both would be needed to save his life. When SS officers arrive to ransack his apartment, Hummel’s true identity is revealed as Karl von Engelhart, a world-renowned pianist who uses his fortune to help Jewish artists flee Germany. Greta lies to the SS officers regarding Hummel’s whereabouts, then brings her beloved teacher money and his passport to escape to Prague. Eventually, Greta and her mother must flee to Switzerland; having once worked for Jews, no one will purchase dresses from Mutti. Dahlberg has captured the fearful mood of Nazi terror in Austria; the reaction to Nazi propaganda by supposedly “decent” people will never be made palatable. The ugliness is laid bare: Greta’s music by Mendelssohn is ripped up by Nazis because the composer is Jewish. A Catholic friend is tortured just because her hair and eyes are dark. Nazi posters depicting hideous caricatures of dark, hook-nosed Jews are described. The blue angel that hangs above Engelhart’s window symbolizes a whole culture’s need for divine interception. Unforgettable writing from a first novelist. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2000
ISBN: 0-374-35994-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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