Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loïc Dauvillier
Review by Lauren
copy for review; all opinions are my own
Official Summary: In this gentle, poetic young graphic novel, Dounia, a grandmother, tells
her granddaughter the story even her son has never heard: how, as a
young Jewish girl in Paris, she was hidden away from the Nazis by a
series of neighbors and friends who risked their lives to keep her alive
when her parents had been taken to concentration camps.
Review: I would definitely recommend this book to teachers that are trying to introduce what the Holocaust was to a young audience. This book takes place in the present time and looks back on WWII and the Holocaust. Now, Dounia has a granddaughter named Elsa who seems to be close in age to Dounia herself when she had to go into hiding. One night, Elsa comes into the living room and snuggles up with her grandmother, and they talk about nightmares. With this prompting, Dounia begins to tell Elsa how as a young Jewish girl in France, she had to be separated from her parents and go into hiding.
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Obviously, as adults reading this and knowing a bit about the Holocaust, we know that her parents have been taken away to concentration camps. Young Dounia doesn’t understand this. She is desperate to be reunited with her parents. At the same time, she knows that her neighbors and other strangers are helping keep her safe and she does appreciate that.
I loved getting this perspective of the Holocaust and how it might have been for a young girl. Dounia is lucky that those around her are able to help and keep her safe. We wonder about her parents through the book and wish for their safe return, but at the same time, Dounia’s story is a unique point of view and one that I really appreciated. It was interesting to get into the head of a young girl who knows bad things are happening, yet does not fully understand what it all means. Through her you get a look at the people who fought back, the ones that helped hide innocent men and women.
Hidden is a lovely graphic novel. It focuses on an important subject in world history but it does so without being extreme and becoming inappropriate for children. Like I said above, this is a great book to introduce the topic of the Holocaust to a younger audience, but it’s also a nice book for history lovers or people who wish to get into graphic novels since it’s fairly short and easy to follow.
Tbis would be a fantastic introduction to the Holocaust history for children. Thank you for sharing!
I love that they made this for little ones!
Sounds like this could be a good companion to Maus for graphic novel lovers.
Very interesting to see a graphic novel for younger kids on the Holocaust, certainly something we never want to forget!
Wonderful to hear about a graphic novel that can teach about such a horrific event in a way that doesn't get too extreme for kids.
This sounds like a heartbreaking story.
Great review.
I think this would be a great way to get a discussion about the holocaust going. I have a hard time talking to my daughter about tough topics and books always help!
Such a terrific way to keep history alive and introduce tough topics to children in a way that they can relate to. I think I'm going to purchase a copy of this for our local library. Thank you for sharing it.
That sounds like a great book to use to teach kids about the Holocaust. Thanks for sharing this! Have a terrific week!
I am a fan of graphic novels- I'm not a teacher or a mother, but I do want to read this for myself!
This sounds wonderful for a young audience. I think it is so important that we share this history and tragedy.
Oh what a wonderful book to share with younger kids. Very neat idea.
Ah wow this sounds like such a good book and emotional too from our standpoint where we realize how innocent these kids were and how they just didn't understand 🙁
The Holocaust is such a heartbreaking event, but this book sounds like it handles it really well. The illustrations look pretty and the pov definitely sounds like an interesting one. Great review! 🙂
This sounds like a very beautiful and sad book. It's not often we get to see stories like this told from young main characters. This is the first I've heard of this, so thank you for sharing!
I really want to read this. I'm sure my students will like it, too.
I've been wanting to check this out since I saw it on Goodreads, and now that I've read your review I need it asap, it sounds like such an amazing, thought-provoking story! I love getting a child's perspective on something horrible like this, it really makes everyone think about the consequences of war and violence.
Nice review. I'm looking forward to this. It s only a couple of books away in my pile!