The Upstairs Room

Description

Newbery Honor Book • ALA Notable Book • An SLJ Best Book • A Jane Addams Award Honor Book • Winner of the Jewish Book Council Children’s Book AwardA classic WWII survivor story based on award-winning author Johanna Reiss’s own childhood during the Holocaust. Now with a beautiful new cover and revised author’s note.When the German army occupied Holland in 1940, Annie was only eight years old. Because she was Jewish, the occupation put her in grave danger. Most people thought the war wouldn’t last long, but Annie knew that if she wanted to stay alive, she would have to go into hiding.

Fortunately, a Gentile family, the Oostervelds, offered refuge to Annie and her older sister, Sini. For two years they hid in the cramped upstairs room of the Oostervelds’s remote farmhouse. There, Annie and Sini would struggle to hold on to hope—separated from their family and confined to one tiny room—as a frightful and seemingly endless war raged on outside their window.

This classic autobiographical novel is a strong choice for classroom sharing and independent reading.

“In this fine autobiographical novel, Johanna Reiss depicts the trials of her Dutch-Jewish family during World War II. The youngest of three daughters tells how she and her sister hid for more than two years in the upstairs room.” “Reiss writes a stirring, fictionalized account of her own experiences as a Jewish girl during World War II.”

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