Angela Cerrito

Irena Sendler (not named in the book), was a young woman in Poland who dedicated her life to helping to save Jewish children from the Nazis. Her fictional persona is Jolanta in “The Safest Lie.”

Anna Bauman, living with her family in a Warsaw ghetto, is one of those children. As hard as it was for Anna to leave her family, she was taken to a Catholic orphanage. Under Jolanta’s tutelage, she learned how to be Catholic, learned a new name for herself and her family, and in essence, learned to be a Catholic girl. Her parents warned her never to tell anyone she was Jewish, but never to forget it either.

She accomplishes everything, and ends up with an adopted family. The structure to the book lends itself to very easy reading because of short chapters, but very exquisitely teaches us of yet another aspect of the tribulations of the Holocaust. With heartfelt guilt, Anna moves between her real life as a Catholic girl, and her dream life as a Jewish girl.

A wonderful read. Anna is reunited with other Jewish children from a ghetto after the liberation. But the book didn’t give me closure. I would have liked an epilogue of Anna’s adult life. As a teacher, I would assign this book and ask the children to write an ending.

- Cookie M.… (mais)

The story of a young boy who killed his friend is told in real life and flashbacks through alternating chapters. Robbie is incarcerated in a school which has its nickname as "The end of the line;" a school where kids are placed when no other school will take them. As Robbie recounts how he wound up there, we see a young 7th grader who loves to run and has a gentle heart take in a stray boy named Ryan. Ryan comes from a dysfunctional home and, despite their differences, the boys become friends. Unfortunately, their differences become what separates them, and Robbie winds up killing him. In order to get out of his current prison like situation and return home, Robbie has to admit what he did, and why. However, admission would be assuming guilt, and Robbie is not ready for that - yet.… (mais)