Hidden Child [Hardcover]

Isaac Millman (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

A powerful story of survival, loss, and hope

Isaac was seven when the Germans invaded France and his life changed forever. First his father was taken away, and then, two years later, Isaac and his mother were arrested. Hoping to save Isaac’s life, his mother bribed a guard to take him to safety at a nearby hospital, where he and many other children pretended to be sick, with help from the doctors and nurses. But this proved a temporary haven. As Isaac was shuttled from city to countryside, experiencing the kindness of strangers, and sometimes their cruelty, he had to shed his Jewish identity to become Jean Devolder. But he never forgot who he really was, and he held on to the hope that after the war he would be reunited with his parents.

After more than fifty years of keeping his story to himself, Isaac Millman has broken his silence to tell it in spare prose, vivid composite paintings, and family photos that survived the war.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 4-8–Millman briefly describes his life in prewar Paris, the Nazi invasion when he was seven, and his father's arrest. Two years later, he and his mother made a daring attempt to escape from the city, but were apprehended. After a desperate exchange of jewels and money, Isaac's mother arranged to have him removed from the deportation line and sent to a hospital. Later, he was brought back to Paris, where he was abandoned. Confused and scared, he was discovered by another Jew, who took him to gentile friends in the countryside, where he was hidden openly, living as a Christian with a new name. Millman tells his story in a straightforward, yet compelling voice, mindful of both the cruelty and kindness of the strangers he encountered. He never forgot his parents, yet was able to live as any child, making friends and attending school. Dense text pages–with occasional black-and-white photos–alternate with double-page montage paintings in which Millman presents images that emphasize his fears, emotions, and reactions to the events he describes. Muted colors work together with bolder tints to highlight the intensity of life. Bright blues depict the prewar vitality of Paris versus dark reds for the German deportation roundups. Despite the horror of losing most of his family, the author expresses his gratitude for his salvation and his eventual adoption by an American Jewish family at age 15. An inspiring and powerful view of this tragic period in human history.–Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 4-7. Like Poole's Anne Frank, below, this picture-book biography focuses on a young person hidden during the Holocaust--but this child survived. Children's author-illustrator Millman (born Isaac Sztrymfman), whose works include Moses Goes to a Concert (1998), tells his own story in a lengthy, straightforward narrative, illustrated with occasional black-and-white photos salvaged from the past and haunting line-and-watercolor pictures that reflect what Millman cannot forget. The author neither exploits the terror nor sentimentalizes the escape. Framed by the general history of persecution, the facts of his personal odyssey are astonishing. His family fled from Poland to France before the war, but after the German invasion, his parents were taken away. A woman, Hena, found him, then age nine, sitting on a Paris sidewalk. She took him in, concealed his Jewish identity (and her own), and watched over him while he hid in various homes, both kind and vicious, until after the war, when an American family adopted him. Millman's telling is quiet, but his understated art reveals terrible memories, including the wrenching images of Papa waving good-bye from behind barbed wire and Mama bribing a prison guard to take him away. This poignant account is a must for the Holocaust curriculum, and it will grab readers older than the target audience--including adults. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374330719
• ISBN-13: 978-0374330712
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 8.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Children's Books > History > Holocaust

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A first-person memoir for grades 5-8, November 3, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hidden Child (Hardcover)

During World War II over a million Jewish children were murdered by Nazis: survivors were often those who were in hiding. Author Isaac Millman was one of these children, and his story recounts the kindness of strangers, his move from city to countryside, and how he was forced to shed his Jewish identity to survive. After the year he kept his story to himself: fifty years later it's told, in Hidden Child's series of black and white photos and first-person memoir for grades 5-8.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Story of Survival, May 2, 2006

By 

Tamela Mccann "taminator40" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hidden Child (Hardcover)

Isaac Millman tells the true story of his youth spent in hiding from the Nazis in a compelling memoir that features his outstanding artwork. We follow young Isaac as he and his parents enter the Free Zone of France, only to find that this is only a respite until the Nazis again intrude. Isaac's father is taken to a "camp", which he and his mother are allowed to visit once; then disaster falls as he and his mother are rounded up for deportation. How Isaac escapes and is placed in foster homes for the duration of the war is told through Millman's sparse writing and his vivid drawings. As with most Holocaust tales, there is no happy ending, but Millman survives and is able to share his journey with us, and that is all we can ask. This is a splendid book that shows how even the youngest victims of the Holocaust found inner strength. We are privileged to know their stories. Recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a Powerful book, September 23, 2006

By 

Rejoice! "Aloha" (Maui) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hidden Child (Hardcover)

A very powerful and exquisite book. I recommend this book to all middle school educators. It would do well on a summer reading list. The book is moving and empowering. The hidden children are often an overlooked part of high school Holocaust studies. This book speaks volumes about human nature, from the couple who took him in, a Hidden Jewish child, to exploit a slave like labor, to the people who really helped him survive. Isaac Millman's description of the changes in his life from the perspective of the child that he was during the is moving and informative. This is a courageous book. I recommend it to All.

Also, the artwork is stellar. Very moving on so many levels.