Run and Hide: How Jewish Youth Escaped the Holocaust

Brown (83 Days in Mariupol) chronicles standout stories of children who managed to escape harrowing circumstances during the Holocaust in this hard-hitting graphic novel. In spare, piercing text and kinetic, thin-lined illustrations, Brown employs meticulously documented firsthand survivor accounts to portray myriad individual experiences. Muted washes of color convey a brief history of the beginnings of the Holocaust, focusing on the sinister, oppressive atmosphere of the period and offering insight into the violence and manipulation that Hitler levied in his rise into power. A judicious use of accent hues, including bold, violent reds and soothing mellow yellows, heightens the drama. Most prominent are recollections of the historic Kindertransport, a program through which families who could afford to sent nearly 10,000 children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Free City of Danzig to the United Kingdom. Lesser-known stories feature throughout, such as brothers Jack and Joe evading a roundup by hiding in their family’s barn, and blond-haired, blue-eyed 13-year-old Rose’s mother persuading her to pretend to be a Polish citizen while she herself is deported to a concentration camp. Though Brown does not shy away from the reality that more than a million children died, through these true and deftly told experiences, he offers hope amid the devastation. Historical and source notes and a bibliography conclude. Ages 13–up. (Oct.)