Franklin Watts ISBN 9781445161303 £7.99
This true story begins in Vienna in 1938. Lisa finds out about anti-Semitism when her piano tutor tells her he cannot teach her any more. Fast forward to 1939 and Lisa’s family manage to get one place on a Kindertransport; but they have three daughters. Who to choose? How do you choose between three children? Lisa is chosen and the story revolves around her life in London during World War Two, living mostly in a hostel for Jewish refugees in Willesden Lane. A second, younger, sister manages to get out of Vienna on the very last Kindertransport to leave on the day before war starts, but she is in Suffolk, and rarely sees her sister. This is an interesting true story about the Holocaust and its impact on one family. Lisa is lucky and manages to continue her piano lessons in England, but still worries about her family. At the end of the war the three sisters are reunited in London, before beginning a new life in America. Immensely readable, and dealing with difficult matters in a non-threatening way, my daughter read this at one sitting, finishing around 12.30am! Upper KS2 and KS3 pupils will find this book interesting and stimulating. You can’t really say ‘attractive’ but it is a Holocaust story that has a nearly happy ending.
Alf Wilkinson, The Historical Association