(1) YA Illustrated by Nick Bertozzi. Sheinkin's work of award-winning narrative nonfiction (Bomb, rev. 11/12) is here sharpened by the author's own graphic adaptation--and portrayed through Bertozzi's skillful cartooning--amplifying the drama, intrigue, and brutality irrevocably linked with the dawn of the atomic age. In five chapters, roughly spanning the years of WWII, Sheinkin cogently interconnects a massive cast of world leaders, scientists, military personnel, spies, and civilians across a mostly chronological account of the Manhattan Project. Unique for this new edition, Sheinkin chose the post-war interrogation of Harry Gold (a Philadelphia factory worker who spied for the Soviets) as the narrative's through line. This clever bit of storytelling permits the omniscient narrator to seamlessly move between key events as they are discussed during Gold's hardboiled questioning. The Golden Age-style illustrations generally adhere to an efficient three-tier, nine-panel page layout yet regularly shift in size, shape, and number to underscore significant moments and ideas. Notably, a stark white page is used to depict the detonation of the Little Boy atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Back matter includes an author's note describing Sheinkin's adaptation process, while an informative epilogue ends on a slightly more ominous note than the original: "How does this story end? We don't know--because it's still going on. And, like it or not, you're in it."

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Selina Alko. In this quiet but immediate nonfiction picture book, Stelson (A Bowl Full of Peace, rev. 7/20) tells the story of the 669 children evacuated from Czechoslovakia via the Kindertransport in the late 1930s, to escape the Nazis, with the help of Nicholas Winton. The first-person-plural narration mainly sticks to the collective point of view of the children, letting readers experience their bewilderment first at the early signs of war and persecution and then at the unexplained "holiday to England" without their parents; occasional "none of us knew" asides hint at the help Winton was providing behind the scenes. As time passes and the war ends, the narrators find out (along with readers) that most of their parents have perished during the Holocaust, and they later learn Winton's identity. The in-the-moment text combines with emotional acrylic, colored-pencil, and collage illustrations in Alko's (I Is for Immigrants, rev. 9/21) signature style to create a dreamlike atmosphere. Extensive back matter provides further context; a note explains that five of the children in the illustrations represent specific individuals among "Winton's children," and a quote from the mother of one of them, Vera Gissing, inspired the titular star motif. Pair with Sis's Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued (rev. 5/21).

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Susan Gal. This picture-book biography of Holocaust historian Yaffa Eliach (1935–2016) begins with her happy childhood in the shtetl of Eishyshok in what is now Lithuania, emphasizing the village's deep connection to its nine-hundred-year history and its enthusiasm for preserving memories through photographs. When the Nazis invade, Yaffa and her family escape, and the approachable text continues to center the importance of memories, including the photos Yaffa saves in her shoes. Years later, when the adult Eliach is a renowned history professor in the U.S., President Jimmy Carter asks her to build a memorial in the new United States Holocaust Museum, and she seeks out photos saved by other survivors to "rebuild Eishyshok, not brick by brick, but photograph by photograph, story by story." The result is the Tower of Faces, which Eliach calls the Tower of Life. Gal's illustrations, created with ink, watercolor, and digital collage (including two actual photos), begin with cheerful blues and yellows on plentiful white space, then turn to angry, arresting reds and blacks when the Nazis appear. Photos and other ephemera in varied grayscale and sepia tones are creatively incorporated into broader scenes of memories as those scenes are reconstructed. An affirming tribute to a Jewish past that was lost in the Holocaust as well as to one survivor's work. Back matter includes a timeline, a bibliography, further reading, and an author's note.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(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

(1) YA Barone (Race to the Bottom of the Earth, rev. 5/21) delivers another impressive feat of narrative nonfiction storytelling. In the years following World War I, Germany developed a virtually unbreakable code, called Enigma, with the help of a complicated machine. One such machine fortuitously fell into the hands of Poland, enabling their ­codebreakers to duplicate the machine and crack the code--until the Germans added layers of complexity. As Hitler rose to power, the threat of military aggression became obvious, increasing the stakes substantially; the code was central to military operations, particularly the German naval strategy. France, England, and Poland now had extra motivation to cooperate with one another to break the code; and break it they did, but not before an extensive game of ­cat-and-mouse with Germany. Accompanied by occasional ­black-and-white ­photos, Barone's suspenseful text introduces a sprawling cast of characters, with the epilogue updating readers on what happened afterward to the central ­players. A timeline, bibliography, and source notes are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(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

(1) 4-6 Like many Japanese Americans, the Asai family has been sent to Manzanar during World War II. Mari has always enjoyed a special bond with her older brother, Mak--he alone seems to appreciate and nurture her gift for ­drawing--but when he decides to enlist in the army, it divides the family. Their father, Ichiro, refuses to speak to Mak, and Mari takes a vow of silence, pledging to remain mute until her brother returns. The story is told from Mari's first-person perspective, but when letters from Mak arrive, the narrative segues into graphic-novel panels that vividly capture his experiences in the 442nd infantry regiment, the most decorated in U.S. military history. Mak and his comrades exhibit heroism and bravery, even in the face of prejudice. In contrast, Mari chronicles daily life in Manzanar, particularly the community's response to her silence; the evolving dynamics among her father, mother, and absent brother; and the sense of optimism that permeates the story's end as Mak is spared the worst violence of the war and the Asai family makes plans for the next chapter in their lives beyond Manzanar. Mari's reflective internal narrative, coupled with Mak's action-packed sequences, marks this unique contribution to the growing body of work in children's literature around Japanese American internment.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 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 In the summer of 1942, Leningrad is about to enter its second year under siege with all supply routes in and out of the city blocked by Nazi forces. Liza has learned from her mother to do whatever it takes to survive--even, now that Mama has died, hiding her death from authorities so as to keep using her precious ration cards. When Liza's best friend, Aka, suggests trading "entertainment" for food from the secret police, Liza knows it's a mistake. Then Aka disappears, and Liza will do anything to find her. Relatively short, fast-paced chapters drive the novel as Liza scrambles to survive and hunts for her friend. In a city rife with desperation, questions of morality exist alongside matters of survival as she confronts the ugly truths of the war and must decide what she is willing to give up, both for information about Aka and for food. With a body already ravaged by starvation, Liza becomes an unreliable narrator as she tries to cut through the fog of hunger and fatigue. Much of this suspenseful story is mired in the daily brutality of the siege as Liza tries to find her own moral compass and cling to hope where she can. An author's note gives historical background and connects Scott's interest in the subject to her childhood in the former USSR.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(1) YA An engrossing look at the emerging new world order after World War II, told through the experiences of one fractured German family living in 1961 Berlin. Stamper begins with a flashback to 1945, with teenage couple Rudolf and Ilse, numb from the soul-crushing brutality of war, learning they are expecting twins. Anxious about their future in the newly partitioned country, they settle in the Soviet sector and scramble to support their family. Their fraternal twin boys grow up in the fledgling Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic, which touts itself as pro-worker and anti-fascist. Rudi is dutiful and well behaved, with the inquisitive eye of a photographer and a tendency to brood; Peter is the golden boy--smart, talented, a committed optimist--who longs to be an actor. Things come to a head in the summer of 1961 when their parents suddenly split up and the fifteen-year-olds find themselves living in different sectors and reassessing everything they've been taught to believe. The overnight erection of a wall around the entire Western part of the city halts the ability of citizens to move freely throughout the area. Stamper (What the Night Sings, rev. 5/18) explains the complex geopolitical and ideological landscapes in a teen-friendly manner and helps readers gain perspective via the boys' alternating chapters as they come of age and gain individual agency. Vivid descriptions bring the city to life and are enhanced by the author's haunting, multilayered grayscale paintings. There are powerful messages here about postwar trauma and the generational consequences of burying the past. An excellent, nuanced piece of historical fiction.

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 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

(1) 4-6 Vernick's absorbing historical World War II novel alternates between the perspectives of two teenage girls: Nellie Doud in Oregon and Tamiko Nakaoka in Japan. Nellie misses her Pa, who's in the service; has a crush on friend and neighbor Joey, whose brother was recently killed in action; and narrowly escapes being killed by the Japanese bomb that takes six lives in her small town. Orphan Tamiko worries about her older brother when he joins the Imperial Army; is initially excited when the girls at her school are enlisted to help the emperor; then survives terrible conditions while making paper for the balloons that will carry bombs to America. Both girls just want the war to be over, and both think deeply about the complexities of blame, guilt, forgiveness, and compassion while navigating their own country's racist propaganda. Readers may want to follow up this engrossing novel with Tanya Lee Stone's Peace Is a Chain Reaction (rev. 9/22); each book greatly enhances the other. (Marc Tyler Nobleman's earlier picture book Thirty ­Minutes over Oregon, rev. 11/18, covers similar material for younger readers.) Appended are extensive notes on the true events behind the story, further information about World War II, research sources, and a glossary.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 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