Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust

There’s really no easy way to talk to children about the atrocities that took place during World War II, especially if your family was directly effected. That’s not to say that that’s what this book was designed to do, but with the child-friendly drawings on the cover and throughout, one would think that was the intention. Instead, we get a serious and intriguing story of a young girl who was affected, but unlike some of the unfortunate souls who were taken, had a strong network of family and friends who were determined to save this girl from the fate that befell so many children during the Holocaust.

Written by Loïc Dauvillier, whose adapted such classics as Around the World in 80 Days and Oliver Twist Hidden takes us on this thought provoking journey.

Synopsis:

In this gentle, poetic young graphic novel, Dounia, a grandmother, tells her granddaughter the story even her son has never heard: how, as a young Jewish girl in Paris, she was hidden away from the Nazis by a series of neighbors and friends who risked their lives to keep her alive when her parents had been taken to concentration camps.

Hidden ends on a tender note, with Dounia and her mother rediscovering each other as World War II  ends . . . and a young girl in present-day France becoming closer to her grandmother, who can finally, after all those years, tell her story. With words by Loïc Dauvillier and art by Marc Lizano and Greg Salsedo, this picture book-style comic for young readers is a touching read.

For those familiar with what was happening in the German camps at the time, it’ll be easy to fill in the “intended” gaps left by the writer. Of course, for the inquisitive, a little research goes a long way. But Hidden isn’t about history, it’s about relationships. So it’s important to know that while reading that in no way shape or form are they trying to give you a play by play of the horrors. This book is designed to help those struggling for closure in the face of insurmountable odds. The camps touched so many lives that it’ll echo an eternity and the stories that emerged from the wreckage are still being told. Hidden is a meditative read and is as quiet and wonderful, as it is, loud and terrifying.

Official HIDDEN website