Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust
Written By: Loïc Dauvillier
Illustrated by: Marc Lizano and Greg Salsedo (Ink)
Published: 2014
Alright, you caught me. This book is not actually a picture book, but a graphic novel. However, due to its brevity, I decided that it could count as a picture book as well. Hidden gives kids what they want in a historical fiction book. A story about what the kids were doing while their parents were off fighting in the war or wasting away in a concentration camp. The Holocaust is such an intimidating and heavy topic, especially when introducing it to children for the first time. This book is an excellent way to ease into it.
Hidden tells the story of a French woman named Dounia who was a little girl during the Holocaust. She is explaining to her granddaughter her experiences during this heinous time in history. The reader's heart breaks along with Dounia's when she is kicked out of school, ignored by her friends, and forced to wear a "sheriff's badge" all because she is Jewish. One night the Nazis come for her parents and they hide her inside of the hollow bottom of a wardrobe. For the rest of the book, Dounia recounts her time being bounced from safe house to safe house while on the run from the Nazi's, until she is eventually has somewhat of a happy ending.
This fabulous little book really does pack a punch with its 80 pages. It does a fabulous job covering the basic ideas of the Holocaust without harping on the gruesome details that should be learned later on down the road. If I teach a grade where the Holocaust is part of the curriculum, I will hands down use this as a required reading novel. It is such a hidden gem and I will be recommending it to anybody who enjoys history, graphic novels, or meaningful stories in general. I give this book 4 stars.
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