A Picture of Grandmother [Hardcover]

Esther Hautzig (Author), Beth Peck (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

A moving story of a secret that tears a family apart and the love that brings it together

When Sara sees the large blue-and-white envelope that came in the mail, she knows it's from her uncle Benjamin in America. Usually he sends wonderful photographs of his life in Brooklyn, but this time Benjamin has invited Mama and Grandmother Hanna to the 1939 World's Fair in New York, and instead of sending pictures, he's requested an old photo of his mother - a picture that Sara has never seen and a request that upsets her mother. Assuming that the photo has been lost, Sara takes it upon herself to find it. But no one in the family will talk to her about it. That's why Sara goes to visit her outspoken aunt Lisa, knowing she will have some answers for her. But the answer Sara gets is one she never expected to hear.

Esther Hautzig's clear, evocative telling and Beth Peck's lovely renderings from old photographs create a vivid portrait of a family on the eve of World War II.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sheltered by her close-knit, extended Jewish family in Vilna, Sara catches a whiff of mystery when a letter arrives from her American uncle. He has sent her mother and grandmother tickets for the 1939 World's Fair and has asked for a specific photo of Grandmother. The apparently straightforward request triggers hushed phone conversations, and Sara's normally kind mother evades the girl's questions and turns snappish when Sara persists. A crusty great-aunt tells Sara the truth-that her mother and uncle's mother died when they were young, and that the woman Sara calls grandmother is really their stepmother. While the explanations for the deceptions seem a little trumped-up, the characters brim with life, and each leaves the impression of a rich personal history. Hautzig (The Endless Steppe) is at her best when evoking childhood idylls. Sara spends hours making invitations and place cards for a family party, which everyone attends in his best clothes (even Uncle Eli, "who hated to be in `party uniform' "), and she loves Vilna so much that she plans to be a tour guide when she grows up. Sara's profound identification with her family and her pride in Vilna, however, open a hole in the book-Hautzig never alludes to Hitler, but the audience is likely to know something of the terrors that await the Jews of Vilna. It may be impossible for readers to experience the story that Hautzig tells without sensing the imminent shadow of that which she leaves unsaid. Ages 7-10.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-A slight story of a girl in prewar Poland who discovers the secrets of her Jewish family's past. Sara is excited when a letter arrives from her uncle in America inviting her mother and grandmother to visit for the 1939 World's Fair, but she is confused by his request for a photograph that no one seems to want to talk about. Finally, Sara questions her crabby great-aunt about it and discovers that her grandmother is really her step-grandmother and that the picture Uncle Benjamin wants is of his true mother. Initially, she rejects this idea, lashing out at her aunt, but after being reassured by both her mother and grandmother, she comes to terms with it and all is well. The dialogue is stilted and forced, and the black-and-white illustrations, although pleasant in some places, are fairly static. At times the characters' language is too modern, while at others it is overly formal and awkward. Sara's reaction when Great-aunt Lisa tells her the truth is rather overblown, and their newfound closeness is not realistic.
Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (September 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374359202
• ISBN-13: 978-0374359201
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,139,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEAUTIFUL, January 30, 2003

By 

Heidi Estrin (The Book of Life podcast, www.jewishbooks.blogspot.com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Picture of Grandmother (Hardcover)

The Association of Jewish Libraries awarded this book a Sydney Taylor Book Award silver medal, and it truly deserves recognition. It's a quiet gem. At face value, it's about the value of truth, the importance of forgiveness, and the joy of family bonding. The language is simple yet elegant, formal in a European way that adds flavor to the Vilna setting. Young readers will be drawn in by the mystery that baffles Sara and the honesty of the emotions portrayed will resonate with them. On another level, the story is a remarkable tribute to the author's pre-war childhood. As anyone who has read Hautzig's The Endless Steppe knows, most of her family perished in the Holocaust; she survived with her parents and grandmother only because they were exiled to Siberia as capitalists. In this book she brings her belvoed Vilna back to life, peoples it with her extended family, and breathes significance back into matters that the Nazis were soon to treat as inconsequential. Rathe rthan describe the disruption of family connections by war, she examines the history of the family and the mending of broken connections. Although it takes place in 1939 the story has nothing to do with war, highlighting the normalcy that was soon to be destroyed and intensifying the poignancy for those who know Hautzig's history. The story is fiction, but it is based on real events in Hautzig's childhood, and many of the characters bear he names of her actual relatives. The facts may be fictional but the feelings are real.
-Heidi Estrin, Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, Association of Jewish Libraries