Hidden Child

Karen MacPherson

Millman's story is stirring, especially because he tells it through the eyes of his young self. Personalizing history this way helps ensure that young readers truly understand—and remember—the toll of the Holocaust, as well as those brave souls who fought against it.
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

Millman (the Moses series) here tells his own story: during the Nazi occupation of France, he was a hidden child. Millman is the surname of the American family that adopted the author/artist after the war; growing up in Paris, he was Isaac Sztrymfman, the only son of doting Polish Jewish immigrants. Playing pretend battleships with his best friend "was as close as war came to us then. It was a game." When Isaac was seven, Germany invaded France and Papa was arrested. Two years later, the boy and his mother were imprisoned after a thwarted escape attempt. But Mama succeeded in bribing a guard to save Isaac from deportation (she, along with Isaac's father, perished at Auschwitz), setting off a chain of events that led him to a remarkable protector named Hena. Millman's unadorned but carefully detailed writing is beautifully pitched for a middle school audience. The most heart-wrenching moments-a final glimpse of Papa waving through the barbed wire of the internment camp, Mama's tears on Isaac's cheeks as she hands him to the bribed guard, Hena's whispered confidence, "I'm a Jew, too," when she discovers an abandoned Isaac sobbing in front the building that was once his home-are bearable, but barely so. Millman intersperses the text with archival photographs and his own mural-like watercolor montages of the events, as if to demonstrate that history is made up of two currents-those things that can be documented, and those that become the underpinnings of memories, pain, longing and resilience. An extraordinary book and a moving tribute to those who vanished. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 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 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Millman, who lived his first years as Isaac Sztrymfman in Paris, provides a crystal clear, heart-wrenching chronicle of his years in hiding during the Holocaust. Isaac is seven when the Nazis invade France. His father is deported and his mother tries to bring Isaac south to Vichy France. She's caught but bribes a guard to send Isaac alone to a hospital where Jewish children are secretly sheltered until homes are found. After placement in one abusive home, Isaac is brought to a kind widow for the duration. His parents (he learns after the war) perish at Auschwitz. Pages of text alternate with two types of illustration: painted double-page spreads in full color, showing many vignettes in concert; and small black-and-white photographs, including Isaac's family before the war and Isaac post-war. The photos are stark with clarity, their very survival a wonder. Millman's art is both delicate and harsh, with powerful use of color and composition. His writing is smooth and direct. A must. (afterword) (Nonfiction. 9-12)