"Cerrito effectively evokes the fears, struggles, and sheer terror these children faced through her protagonist’s first-person account.... Balancing honesty and age-appropriateness, Cerrito crafts an authentic, moving portrait." Kirkus
The truth is the safest lie. Maybe before the war, but not now, not for me.... The only way to see my family again is to stay alive, and to do that I must be the best liar in the world.
Nine-year-old Anna Bauman is one of the Jewish children whom Jolanta (code name for the real-life World War II resistance spy Irena Sendler) smuggles out of the Warsaw ghetto. Anna, given a new name and false papers, must keep her true identity secret, first at a Catholic orphanage and then with a foster family. Ironically, she discovers that the most difficult part isn't remembering her new identity, but trying not to forget the old one. Suspenseful and deeply moving, sheds light on yet another tragedy of the Holocaust: rescued children who lost not only their loved ones, but their very identities and Jewish Heritage. Available wherever books are sold and online at Independent Bookseller, Powell's Books, Barnes and Noble and Amazon |