4.0 out of 5 stars
Guardian Angel House, December 28, 2009
This review is from: Guardian Angel House (Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers) (Paperback)
"You are helping me by leaving," Mama tells Susan. It is 1944, and although the war has been a presence in their lives for a long time, the stakes are now high. Papa has been sent to a work camp, and the corner store refuses to serve Mama. Along with her sister, Vera, Susan must escape their home in Hungary to go into hiding from the Nazis. Mam's friend, Aunt Isi, has a plan. Guardian Angel House is based on the true story of the author's mother and aunt. Told from the point of view of Susan, the older of the two sisters, the careful narrative chronicles their days in the convent with the brave nuns who protected 120 girls. It is a story filled with heart and love of Judaism. More important, it shows how people of different religions and lifestyles can come together to reinforce all our beliefs. The text is easy-to-read and straight forward. Violence does not appear on the page--the author keeps the text appropriate for young readers by focusing on the growing relationships between the girls and the nuns. Like the garden that Susan cultivates with Sister Agnes, the narrative grows slowly and steadily, leading us to joy and sadness at the end of the war. The book includes historical photographs and notes about the author's family and the Hungarian convent. It is an inspiring story of survival, but more important, it shows the reader how people of multiple faiths can put their differences aside to live the values they share. For ages 10 - 14. Sara Aronson
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A great way to teach young readers about the holocaust through fiction, July 18, 2009
This review is from: Guardian Angel House (Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers) (Paperback)
There was resistance in Europe to the Nazi genocide. "Guardian Angel House: A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers" is a fictional dramatization of a true story. In 1944, Hungary has fallen to Nazi Germany, and one pair of Jewish sisters' only hope is to enter the protection of a Catholic nunnery. A moving story with roots in fact, "Guardian Angel House" is a great way to teach young readers about the holocaust through fiction.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, July 5, 2009
This review is from: Guardian Angel House (Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers) (Paperback)
It is 1944 and Susan is scared. Although the war has been raging for years now, the Nazis are only now beginning to impose their ethnic cleansing ideals on Hungary. Papa always told the family that what happened in Poland, the Czech Republic, and other Nazi-occupied countries could never happen in Hungary. Even when Susan began to be ignored at school or when the grocer refused to sell food to Mama, Susan believed her father when he said everything would be okay.
But when Papa is sent away to work in a labor camp, Susan doesn't know what to believe anymore.
Mama wants the family to stay put - how else will Papa find them when he gets out of the camp? However, Mama's childhood friend, Aunt Isi, convinces Mama that it would be safer if, at the very least, the two girls go into hiding. There is a nearby Catholic convent that is taking in young Jewish girls and hiding them from the Nazis.
Susan is eleven and Vera is just six. Susan promises Mama that she will take care of her little sister, but she doesn't want to leave Mama and their baby brother, Tomas, behind. Who knows how long it will be before the family is reunited?
Luckily for Susan and Vera, the nuns at the convent are very warm and loving, welcoming the girls with open arms and willing to break the Nazi law to protect them. Susan soon makes friends with some of the other Jewish girls and begins a new life of her own, tending the vegetable garden and helping in the kitchen.
Forced to mature beyond her years, Susan learns the true meaning of courage and discovers that Catholicism and Judaism have more in common than she could have ever imagined. Even though they are of a different faith, the nuns always treated the other girls lovingly and with respect.
Kathy Clark's GUARDIAN ANGEL HOUSE is a thoughtful exploration of World War II from a unique perspective Clark has the advantage of retelling a true story: Susan and Vera are her aunt and mother. With the help of valuable research and a trip to the convent in Budapest, Clark paints an accurate portrait of the young Jewish girls protected by the safe haven that the Catholic convent offered.
Both tragic and hopeful, Clark molds non-fiction into an adventurous tale suitable for younger readers.
Reviewed by: Amber Gibson
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