Isabel's War

Starred review from September 22, 2014
Published posthumously, Perl’s moving WWII novel set in the Bronx traces a Jewish girl’s growing awareness of the atrocities occurring overseas. At first, 12-year-old Isabel views the war as an inconvenience, bemoaning new rationing rules and the growing shortages of luxury items. Similarly, she resents the arrival of Helga, a beautiful German refugee with “a swanlike neck, and luminous gray-green eyes,” who ends up living with Isabel’s family when Helga’s American guardian turns ill. But as Isabel gleans bits of information about Helga’s horrific experiences in Germany and in England, where she was delivered as part of the Kindertransport, Isabel’s heart gradually softens. Now her problem is getting others to believe Helga’s tales and persuading Helga that she is not to blame for what her family suffered. This coming-of-age story offers an authentic glimpse of the 1940s American war effort and corresponding sentiments while introducing a realistically flawed heroine whose well-meaning efforts sometimes backfire. A revelation about Helga’s past and the mystery of what happened to her immediate family members will whet appetites for the novel’s completed sequel. Ages 8–12.

September 15, 2014
A young woman comes of age with World War II looming in the background. It is summer, 1942, and World War II is less than a year old for the United States. Isabel Brandt, 12, and her parents are vacationing at a small, unstylish resort in the Catskills. As they arrive she is teetering on the edge of adolescence; while not selfish, she is self-absorbed. Also visiting at Moskin's Shady Pines is Helga, a German refugee, the somewhat-older niece of Mrs. Brandt's best friend. The beautiful, sophisticated older girl is a mystery Isabel is determined to solve, especially when circumstances force her to live with the Brandts. As Helga's unhappy story unfolds, Isabel's world widens, and she begins to appreciate others and take brave stands, even trying to bring German concentration camps to the attention of others. The evocation of wartime is real; this view is from someone who was there. Isabel's experiences of school, friends, a boy, movies, crooners, rationing and her brother's enlistment combine with what she learns about Helga's life and tortured secret to summon the times and authentically evoke a girl becoming a person aware of others, thus adding value to her life and the lives of others. Published posthumously, an effective exploration of both character and times. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-Isabel Brandt is a typical 12-year-girl who dreams of Frank Sinatra, boys, and being popular in school. But it is 1942, and the war in Europe and the Pacific becomes very significant for this Jewish girl from the Bronx. As her family begins their summer vacation in the Catskills, Isabel meets Helga, her new roommate. She is the niece of her mother's best friend, Mrs. Frankfurter, and a refugee from Germany. Helga is very attractive and Isabel can't understand why she doesn't enjoy all the attention. Instead she is shy, distant, and almost remorseful, as if she's harboring a dark secret from her past that she can't escape. When Isabel's brother enlists in the army, it forces the family to return to the Bronx. Shortly after, Mrs. Frankfurter becomes seriously ill and Helga must live with Isabel and her family. Things are awkward at first, but the experience enables Isabel to expand her horizons. Published posthumously, Perl's work is a skillfully woven and poignant story dealing with important themes, such as belonging, friendship, self-worth, betrayal, and discrimination. As Isabel learns about the war and the treatment of Jews by Nazis, her relationship with Helga and her outlook on life radically changes. Readers will identify with the protagonist as she discovers what things are truly important.-Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.