Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Cerrito, Angela. The Safest Lie.

Cerrito, Angela.  The Safest Lie.  Holiday House  2015  180p  $16.95  ISBN 978-0-8234-3310-0  ms  Historical fiction  E-BN     

This novel follows the life of one young Jewish girl in Poland during the German occupation during World War Two, as she is moved from her family home to keep her safe from the Nazis.  Anna, who is only nine years old, must take on a new identity as a non-Jew and be housed first by a family in a safe house, then by nuns in a Catholic orphanage, and finally by another family that is involved in the Polish Resistance movement.  Moment by moment, the reader is drawn into Anna’s feelings and thoughts as she negotiates her difficult life and sticks to her assumed identity.  The story is based on the true story of a Polish woman who rescued children from the Nazis, and the author met and spoke with this person before writing the book.  Because of the excellent writing, the reader becomes intrigued with Anna and the other characters she encounters along her way, and feels a deep connection with her and with all the children who suffered as a result of the Holocaust and the war.      

Summary:  This novel follows the life of one young Jewish girl in Poland during the German occupation during World War Two, as she is moved from her family home to keep her safe from the Nazis.        


World War II-Fiction, Holocaust-Fiction                     --Carol Kennedy

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