No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War (An Avon Camelot Book) - Softcover

From age five to age 10, Lobel spent what are supposed to be carefree years hiding from the Nazis, protecting her younger brother, being captured and marched from camp to camp, and surviving completely dehumanising conditions. A terrifying story by any measure, Lobel's memoir is all the more haunting as told from the first-person, child's-eye view. Her girlhood voice tells it like it is, without irony or even complete understanding, but with matter-of-fact honesty and astonishing attention to detail, carving vivid, enduring images into readers' minds. On hiding in the attic of the ghetto: "We were always told to be very quiet. The whispers of the trapped grown- ups sounded like the noise of insects rubbing their legs together". On being discovered while hiding in a convent: "They lined us up facing the wall. I looked at the dark red bricks in front of me and waited for the shots. When the shouting continued and the shots didn't come, I noticed my breath hanging in thin puffs in the air." On trying not to draw the Nazis' attention: "I wanted to shrink away. To fold into a small invisible thing that had no detectable smell. No breath. No flesh. No sound."

It is a miracle that Lobel and her brother survived on their own in this world that any adult would find unbearable. Indeed, and appropriately, there are no pretty pictures here, and adults choosing to share this story with younger readers should make themselves readily available for explanations and comforting words. (The camps are full of excrement and death, all faithfully recorded in direct, unsparing language.) But this is a story that must be told, from the shocking beginning when a young girl watches the Nazis march into Krakow, to the final words of Lobel's epilogue: "My life has been good. I want more." (Ages 10 to 16) --Brangien Davis, Amazon.com

The Chicago Tribune

"This piercing and graceful account is rewarding for readers of all ages." --"Publishers Weekly (starred review)"A compelling read, delicate yet powerful." --"The Chicago Tribune "Anita Lobel's disturbing memoir is neither sentimental nor exploitative...The memory is raw. The storytelling frames it. The message is that there is no meaning in this suffering." --"The New York Times Book Review "The truth of the child's viewpoint is the strength of this Holocaust survivor story, told with physical immediacy and no 'pride of victimhood.'" --"Booklist (starred review) "Notable both as an account of survival and as a revelation of a remarkable human being...there are moments of description that are intensely visual and vivid, and will not easily be forgotten." --The Horn Book