(2) 4-6 Another real-life, courageous, boundary-pushing woman gets some well-deserved attention in Atkins's (Grasping M­ysteries, rev. 11/20; Finding Wonders, rev. 7/16) novel in verse. Readers first meet Jewish physicist Lise Meitner (1878–1968) as she "aches to taste hope," clutching fake papers aboard a train at the German border in 1938. Atkins then leaves her audience in suspense and backtracks to Meitner's childhood in Austria, as she chafes against restrictions preventing girls from formal schooling after age thirteen. When the University of Vienna finally opens its doors to women, Meitner is the only female physics student. After earning a PhD and publishing her work on radiation, she moves to Berlin and begins ­conducting unpaid research in a makeshift basement laboratory. Vivid and ­poignant, Atkins's poems chronicle Meitner's hesitation to abandon her experiments and flee Germany after Hitler's rise to power; her horror at realizing her role in the creation of the atomic bomb; and her disappointment that her longtime male collaborator received the Nobel Prize for their shared discovery of nuclear fission, while she was snubbed. Atkins meshes "facts with empathy" in this stirring portrait of--as Meitner's epitaph reads--"A Physicist Who Never Lost Her Humanity." An author's note, a timeline, an annotated list of Meitner's colleagues, and a selected bibliography are appended.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) 4-6 Cohen reimagines Japan two decades after World War II, with a fantasy twist. All humans have a ryū, a dragon companion, a whiskery creature born of rain and mist and small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. Kohei loves his smart, linguistically gifted Yuharu, but he also has a seemingly impossible memory of big dragons, the kind he thinks his grandfather, Ojiisan, once watched with joy. Now Ojiisan is bitter and given to drunken rages, and Kohei's widowed mother can only say, hollowly, "It's okay." Kohei teams up with his Japanese Jewish American friend Isolde (whose ryū speaks Yiddish) to find a big dragon that might heal Ojiisan's anger. The two travel deep into the sea to the palace of dragons, where Kohei gains new understanding of his family's--and his nation's--past. Cohen interweaves Japanese dragon imagery, history, and post-war culture in a story that muses on the legacies of emotion and family experiences in shaping identity after war. She blends her fantastical imagery with historical fact and realism, ­bringing readers commentary and questions on cultural identity, racism, friendship, and political activism.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) YA Goldstone's (Separate No More, rev. 3/21) Constitutional history of Asian i­mmigration to the U.S. provides extensive context for the shameful Japanese American incarceration during WWII. Beginning with the founding of the United States, Goldstone traces the complex relationship between the nascent nation and the laborers it both exploits and rejects, from the first ­Chinese immigrants during the Gold Rush to the Japanese immigrants who joined the American workforce as sugarcane harvesters in Hawai'i, beginning in 1868. However, while they are the focus of the book, Japanese Americans are very rarely quoted, as much attention is given to the mostly white lawmakers who drew and redrew the lines between who could be American and who could not. Still, this is a well-researched and timely account that will engage young historians if presented in tandem with accounts of WWII incarceration that center Asian American voices and perspectives, such as Takei's They Called Us Enemy, rev. 9/19). ­Black-and-white photos appear throughout; back matter includes a bibliography and detailed source notes.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) 4-6 Translated by Sylvia Notini. Illustrated by Jess Mason. In a direct, first-person account (adapted from her adult book Una bambina e basta), Levi relates what happened to her and her family under the rule of Mussolini and during World War II. Brief chapters, short sentences, and a simple vocabulary give this the air of a child's voice, but the quick, deft storytelling is that of a gifted, experienced narrator. The story starts in Turin, but when restrictions are imposed on Jewish Italians, Lia's family moves first to Milan and then to Rome, where Papa finds work. When the Germans occupy Rome, Lia and her sisters are hidden at a Catholic boarding school, and Papa and Mama go into hiding. Lia's impressions of her different schools, new friendships, and the conditions war brings about ("One egg for three people: that's just one of the little tricks that war can play on you") speak to children's interests, and the author's conversational style has just the right tone to make readers feel the narrator is addressing them personally. The main narrative is occasionally interrupted by "dear reader" notes--explanations and reassurances to soften the suspense of a terrifying time. Mason's soft black-and-white illustrations make these switches clear and meaningful, as she moves from images of the youthful Lia to Lia as a grandmother, a testament of survival and Jewish cultural continuity.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) YA Sixteen-year-old María Kamińska has returned home after two and a half years in Rüsselsheim, Germany, as an Ostarbeiter, a "slave worker" at the Opel automobile factory. Both the Nazis and the Soviets invaded Poland in 1939, and now, in August 1944, the Soviets are taking over, while Polish resistance--with the support of the Silent Unseen (elite Polish special-operations agents trained in Britain)--and Ukrainian nationalists continue with their own years-long conflict. María's narrative becomes entwined with that of Kostya, a courier for the military arm of the Ukrainian nationalist movement. Their relationship mirrors the larger complicated machinations of warring parties in a land already devastated by war; at times, the characters seem more like pawns in a complicated chess game than fully realized people. It's a complex narrative bolstered by a useful historical note, a list of military and paramilitary forces, and a two-page list of characters to help readers keep track of everything going on. McCrina (Traitor, rev. 11/20), like Ruta Sepetys (I Must Betray You, rev. 2/22), is adept at finding important stories in places not well known to American readers, and this novel may well find an audience with young World War II history buffs.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider

(2) YA This absorbing and well-paced biography of Austrian-born trailblazing physicist Lise Meitner begins by exploring ­Meitner's path from college student to struggling laboratory scientist (prevented, as a woman, from gaining employment as a university professor in Berlin). With the coming of WWII, the narrative kicks into high gear as Moss depicts the Jewish Meitner's delayed ­decision to finally flee Germany and the dramatic escape that follows. It is in the ­relative safety of neighboring Sweden that Meitner makes her most significant ­discovery, ­concluding that atoms can be split and that the resulting "fission" releases massive amounts of energy. The implications of this discovery would emerge shortly thereafter with the Manhattan Project. Moss provides readers with comprehensible descriptions of her subject's scientific work; equally important to ­Meitner's story is the depiction of the conditions under which she finds herself working during Hitler's rise to power. Chapters are preceded by single-page ­comics showing significant moments in the unfolding narrative. These welcome breaks serve many functions, including moving Meitner's story along, depicting ­scientists at work in their labs, and helping readers ­better understand the many ­pressures Meitner was under. Extensive back matter includes a timeline, profiles of the various scientists mentioned in the ­narrative, a glossary, an index, and chapter-by-chapter source notes. A perfect accompaniment to Sheinkin's Bomb (rev. 3/17); see also Atkins's Hidden Powers: Lise Meitner's Call to Science (rev. 5/22).

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Martina Heiduczek. At school in East Prussia in the early 1940s, Liesl is taught to revere Adolf Hitler. When Germany wins the war, which she believes is inevitable, fountains will run with lemonade and ice cream, and every family will be given a puppy. Then, in 1944, Russian soldiers come; Germany has lost the war; Liesl, her brother, and their baby sister must flee in the dead of winter. Separated from their mother, they live "like wolves" in the forest, subsisting on frogs, squirrels, and wild plants; sometimes they're lucky enough to find unharvested potatoes or to work for Russian soldiers. The children eventually find refuge with a loving Lithuanian couple. To be safe, however, they must erase all vestiges of their German background. What will remain of her, Liesl wonders, once she has relinquished even her native language? As Liesl begins her slow unlearning of Nazi propaganda and comes to understand the atrocities against which she had been sheltered, she gains true insight into who she is--and who she can become. The incidents and challenges involved in the children's survival (based on true events of the Wolfskinder, or "wolf children," who, per an introductory note, were themselves "victims of war") are both sobering and enlightening.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Lauren Tamaki. Numerous books have been written about the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WWII, but what sets this one apart is Partridge's focus on how three different photographers visually documented their experiences in one camp: Manzanar. Dorothea Lange, already known for her body of work during the Great Depression, took pictures for the War Relocation Authority from March to July 1942; her empathy and awareness of injustice are apparent, but many of her photos were impounded by the army. Photographer Toyo Miyatake was himself imprisoned in Manzanar from 1942–1945; he smuggled camera parts in and was able to take candid shots of people in the community as well as a few photos of forbidden things like the guard towers. Ansel Adams, famed for photographing the natural beauty of California's landscapes, came to Manzanar in fall 1943. He wanted his photos to show the prisoners as hard-working, cheerful, and resilient in preparation for their eventual release; but they suggest an overly idealized view. The other significant feature of this book is how the design incorporates the black-and-white photographs so organically that it often feels like an extended picture book. Tamaki's ink and watercolor illustrations create a cohesive whole that encompasses both the text and historical artifacts, while extending and deepening the visceral qualities of the narrative. Extensive back matter covers, among other things, biographical vignettes; careful source notes and photo credits; and essays on citizenship, civil liberties, the model minority myth, and the use of terminology to describe the camps.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) YA When the United States entered World War II and Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated to various incarceration camps, the Takeshita family was sent first to Topaz, Utah, and then--because they were deemed to be "disloyal"--to Tule Lake, California. Readers are introduced to Yuzuru Takeshita at age fourteen; born in California, he had spent a good chunk of his childhood in Japan and had been struggling to re-acclimate. The narrative then shifts back to Japan to focus on a secretive large-scale effort to create balloon bombs that would be carried by wind currents across the Pacific and explode in the United States, causing havoc, panic, and fear. The bombs largely fail, but one does land, killing six people in a small Oregon town. Stone then segues many years into the future for the third section. Takeshita is an old man and has brought together some of the women who had made the bombs (then high-school girls) with the surviving family members from the Oregon bombing. It's a healing and cathartic process for all parties. This complicated story includes a large cast of characters, multiple settings, and several shifts in time. It's a credit to Stone that she fashions them into a cohesive, compelling narrative. Black-and-white captioned photographs appear throughout, while author's notes, source notes, a bibliography, and an index are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Yas Imamura. Amid choking dust and surrounded by barbed wire, Tama lives a life made meaningful by words: she is the librarian at Minidoka, a Japanese American internment camp. Tama and her family survive constant worries and fear; unjust conditions (muddy paths to communal latrines, shared single-room housing); and stalled lives and plans. Tama finds solace in the worlds within books, and she has a friend, George, a constant presence in the library with his big voice and smile. Eventually they get married and have a child, making a "miraculous" life together in such a place. Full-spread gouache and watercolor illustrations along with smaller vignettes immerse viewers in camp life, depicting its hardships without overwhelming young readers. An earth-toned palette nevertheless remains light and hopeful, symbolized by details such as a vase of sunny flowers and a butterfly. Each individual depicted in the illustrations appears distinct (resisting stereotypes about people of color's supposed resemblance); their experiences are unique as well, as people are shown with their own belongings and varied clothing amidst the common horror of the camp. An appended author's note provides additional background and depth to the story, which was based on the author's grandparents' experiences, and also touches on other populations' struggles with hate and oppression throughout modern history.

Reviewer: J. Elizabeth Mills | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) YA This well-researched biography of German Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon (1917–1943) constructs many of its episodes around her autobiographical paintings, allowing not only for analysis of her art but also for an intimate focus on particular moments in her life. That life was a difficult and complicated one, and Wider is frank about Salomon's intense relationships and obsession with her family's history of suicide, as well as her alleged poisoning of her grandfather (the book is inconclusive as to her motivations: assisted suicide, or escape from his abuse?). The specter of the Holocaust looms large over Salomon's story: she created her Life? or Theater? series of paintings while in hiding, and was eventually captured and killed in the gas chamber. Two closing chapters focus on her legacy. Black-and-white photos are interspersed throughout the narrative, as are reproductions of Salomon's colorful and often melancholic paintings. Back matter includes a family tree, a map, a timeline, source notes, a bibliography, and an index (unseen).

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) 4-6 Cushman (The Ballad of Lucy Whipple) sets her WWII home front novel in 1941 San Diego, where feisty and headstrong Millie McGonigle is coping with...a lot. Grief at the recent death of her beloved grandmother. Gloom over the state of the world, "full of war and death." Jealousy of her sickly younger sister, who takes up all their mother's time and attention. Right before Gram died, she gave Millie a notebook and told her to use it to "remember the good things in this world...Things that seem lost or dead--keep them alive and safe in your book." Millie turns the journal into "The Book of Dead Things," recording every loss she hears about, every dead sand crab she finds on the beach, in an effort to avert disaster and keep her worst fears from happening. A new friendship, a growing warmth between Millie and her little sister, and a revised understanding of Gram's advice--not to obsess about death, but to recognize and embrace life--begin to ease Millie's pain. ­Cushman offers readers a sympathetic, spirited heroine and a vividly evoked setting, chock-full of ­sensory detail. "I...sniffed deeply of the rich, salty, fishy smell of the mud. Gulls screeched like rusty hinges as they soared above me, and flocks of curlews and sandpipers scratched for bugs for breakfasts. There was plenty of life on the bay but a peaceful stillness, too, that ­comforted me when I needed comforting." Hand this to fans of books such as Jennifer L. Holm's Our Only May Amelia (1999) and Turtle in Paradise (rev. 5/10).

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) 4-6 Hopkinson (Courage & Defiance, rev. 11/15; Dive!, rev. 9/16; and others) continues to build an impressive body of work about World War II with these accounts of children and their families caught up in the Holocaust in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Poland. "To Give the Dead a Voice" is her theme, as she weaves a rich third-person narrative with numerous first-person accounts. There's Eva Lauffer and Martin Deutschkron hiding in Berlin "under the noses of the Nazis," Max Liebmann escaping over the mountains to Switzerland aided by a young French boy, and Paula Burger and her brother Isaac hiding in rain barrels and escaping the Novogrudek ghetto with the help of a Polish farmer and the Bielski Partisans. Hopkinson has created a rich resource for teachers, librarians, and students--an effective melding of narratives; well-selected black-and-white photographs with informative captions; maps; and especially useful "Look, Listen, Remember" sidebars that provide links to interviews with many of the survivors. Extensive back matter includes a glossary, a timeline, and "Museum Websites and Online Resources." The source notes demonstrate the thorough research underlying the volume.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) 4-6 Translated by Emily Balistrieri. This is a moving, somber look at the 1945 Hiroshima nuclear bombing, seen mostly through the eyes of ­Hiroshima junior high school students--"second-­generation atomic-bomb survivors"--as they attend the 1970 Peace ­Memorial ceremony and prepare for a cultural festival. Friends Nozomi, Shun, and Kozo have a vague idea of what happened during World War II, but they become more curious when Nozomi has an unsettling encounter with an elderly woman who seems to mistake her for someone else. Then their beloved art teacher, Mr. Yoshioka, a former soldier, leaves school due to long-term sickness possibly connected to radiation exposure. The students create an art exhibit highlighting Hiroshima's past and present and interview relatives and neighbors about their experiences. Many of their stories are interspersed throughout the text, turning the novel into a tale about wartime trauma and how art and story can channel empathy, memory, and remembrance. The book also touches upon the issue of complicity and regret when Mr. Yoshioka tells his students that the Japanese people were both aggressors and victims in the war and asks, "How...will we be able to make up for these crimes, to heal these wounds?" The answer, he says, is for future generations to learn from past mistakes, to never be bystanders, and to never forget. Appended with notes about the bombing of Hiroshima and the lantern floating ceremony.

Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Kwon. As a child, Hazel Ying Lee (1912–1944) pushed limits to be the best at everything--the fastest at footraces, the hardest hitter in handball, and, she hoped, one day the first Chinese American woman pilot. The sky called to her, and during her first airplane trips, she let the gender and racial discrimination she experienced on the ground fall away. The text chronicles her flying career: working as an elevator operator to pay for lessons; earning her license in less than a year; when WWII began, joining the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) program, testing planes before they went to military pilots. A tragic crash ended Lee's career (and life) at a young age, though her legacy lives on. Leung's poetic text vividly conveys Lee's fascination with and passion for flying and breaking boundaries without fear, as well as her perseverance and optimism for a better world. Kwon's clear, earth-toned, full-bleed illustrations expand on the story, illuminating Lee's unique experiences and capturing her adventurous spirit. Striking perspectives offer bird's-eye views of the patchwork landscapes over which Lee flew. Back matter includes an extensive author's note as well as additional multimedia resources. An excellent portrayal of a fearless flyer.

Reviewer: J. Elizabeth Mills | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(1) 4-6 McKay plunges us back into the doings of the Penrose family (Love to Everyone, rev. 11/18), this time exploring the lives of the generation born between the world wars. The story spans almost twenty years as we move between Kate in Oxford, Ruby in Plymouth (Clarry's goddaughters, both), and two German boys in Berlin--best friends Erik and Hans--as they deal with siblings and families, grapple with their own fears and desires, and meet the challenges of drastically changing times as World War II descends. McKay has a positive genius for the tight dovetail of character, incident, and plot: as these lives become entwined, that genius is everywhere at work--from the novel's first sentence ("One summer, when he was ten years old, Erik became famous for buying dead flies") to Ruby's distress about her facial birthmarks, to the story's moving, satisfying conclusion. Precise, evocative detail ("Every leaf was heavy with dew, and the flowers hung like wet laundry") gives this a persistent, vivid freshness, but even more fresh and compelling is McKay's compassionate, sometimes humorous, take on human character and her understanding of youthful feelings.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) 4-6 Narrator Simona is eight years old in 1940, and her younger sister five, when they leave their home outside Rome for Tokyo--their father has been hired as chef at the Italian embassy. The girls must quickly learn a new language and new customs--and although they come to love Japan, as Westerners their friends are few. As WWII approaches and then intensifies, life in Tokyo deteriorates, with food and clothing scarcities; classmates' brothers and fathers lost to war; school concerned with propaganda rather than learning. Then, in 1943, Italy surrenders--and Simona's family is now the enemy. From here, the novel becomes a survival story. The girls are separated from their father and sent to a starvation-level internment camp; escape and are rescued by a household of anti-war activists; they return, after the women's home is raided, to Tokyo, where they find refuge with a blind washerwoman; and finally, fatefully, end up in a Catholic mission in Hiroshima. Throughout, what saves them are Simona's strength and determination but also the sisters' assimilation into and respect for Japanese culture: at the camp, their politeness earns them life-saving tidbits from the kitchen; needing to buy train tickets back to Tokyo, they speak the language so well they pass for Japanese. Simona's eight-year-old voice is the same as her adult voice (the novel ends with a final chapter set in 1965), but readers may overlook this quibble as they immerse themselves in Napoli's story, told with immediacy, compassion, and nuance. A note describing the author's research and an extensive bibliography are appended.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Daniel Duncan. Text and pictures work together to capture the life and spirit of a remarkable woman. As a child in England, Beatrice ­Shilling (1909–1990) "wasn't quite like" other children, preferring tools to candy. She grew up to be so clever with tools and so interested in fixing engines and machines that at fourteen she bought and rebuilt her own motorcycle; was later accepted to university to study engineering (art shows Beatrice walking into a room full of men as the text states that she "wasn't quite like" the other students); and subsequently got a job in the Royal Aircraft Establishment. During WWII, when it was discovered that Spitfire and Hurricane planes had a fatal flaw in their fuel delivery systems that caused the engines to fail in crucial moments, it was Beatrice who solved the problem. She devised a simple restrictor--"a little piece of metal with a hole in it"--that was cheap and easy to install. "When Beatrice roared up on her motorcycle with her bag full of tools, pilots knew they didn't have to worry anymore." The text is lively and succinct, full of vigorous action verbs. The expressive illustrations convey time and place beautifully and are infused variously with humor (such as when apprentice-engineer Beatrice, helping to bring electricity to villages, falls through a ceiling) and drama (as in a stunning double-page spread of London aflame during the Blitz). An author's note stresses the support Shilling received from individual women and women's ­organizations, enabling her to break through the barriers she faced; a list of selected sources completes the book.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) 4-6 It is London 1945, and Charlie's beloved elder brother Theo returns from the war. Theo is suffering from what would now be called PTSD, and Charlie, devastated by Theo's condition, is determined to "fix" him and return the family to pre-war normal. On the Blitz-ravaged streets of London, Charlie meets up with a set of huge, powerful, and malevolent spirit wolves, invisible to all except Charlie. The wolves (with names such as Regret and Remembrance) have eaten the hearts of despairing returned soldiers; thus the "hollow chest" of the title. The creatures direct Charlie to a series of dangerous tasks involving cleverness, bravery, and self-sacrifice. With the support of a hospitalized war veteran, a kindly nurse, and a neighborhood eccentric, Charlie attempts to restore his brother's heart without endangering his own. In a lush, simile-studded narrative Sandstrom invokes metaphor, mental illness, fairy tale, quest adventure, and fantasy as she fully inhabits her troubled young character. She is less sure-footed in the domestic details of mid-century lower-middle-class English life, with terminology and tea-making needing a bit more research. The central idea, however, of the "wolves of war" and how they slink around long after armistice is deftly realized, and as relevant as ever.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) YA The school board has cut funding for football at Ironville Middle School, but Ms. B hopes her new eSports club might "give students something else to focus on. ­Something to get excited about." After all, the eight shiny new gaming computers she has gotten through a ­technology grant for low-income schools aren't costing the school anything, and the students are sure to love playing a World War II simulation game pitting the Allies against the Axis. But that game soon spirals out of control. Axis members walk the hallways wearing gray shirts and Iron Crosses and talking in fake German accents. Chat rooms resound with "Long live the Axis. Sieg Heil!" And when Ally member Emma puts on her headphones, she hears sounds of boots marching, crashes of cymbals and drums, and someone (presumably Hitler) giving a passionate speech in German. Her monitor displays Iron Crosses, swastikas, burning crosses, and nooses. The Good War has become more than a game; "evil has seeped into the real world." Strasser revisits themes from his now-classic The Wave (1981), a fictionalized account of an actual 1967 history class simulation that went too far. The prose is simple, the themes heady, and the conflicts intense, all balanced by an in-your-face encounter with the worst of middle-school life: bullying, cheating, boys spitting loogies onto the ceiling of the "pissorium," and cellphone-obsessed students pursuing their meanness 24/7 on social media. It's a quick read and a thought-provoking reflection of the underbelly of our times.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021