The Horn Book Guide

BIOGRAPHIES

Nir, Yehuda

The Lost Childhood: A World War II Memoir

284 pp. | Scholastic | February, 2002 | Trade ISBN 0-439-16389-7 $$16.95

(2) YA This is a ruthlessly unsentimental telling of Nir's life from age nine until "liberation" when he is fourteen. As Polish Jews posing as Catholics, Nir and his mother and older sister go from precarious situation to precarious situation as they "hide" out in the open. Every action centers on "the brutal game of survival"; there is no room for sentiment. Nir conveys the absurdity and unpredictability of his situation and of the war in general.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2002