Dee White

Representation: Asian characters
Trigger warnings: Near-death experiences, antisemitism, grief and loss depiction, physical assault, death of a husband and parents, gun violence, military violence and war themes, World War II
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

I wanted to read this for a while but after I found it in one of the two libraries I go to I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it I had so many thoughts going on inside my head, for starters it's what would be best described as emotionally impactful but at the same time the characters weren't the best. That doesn't take away from the fact that the story was enjoyable. It starts with the main character Ruben whose last name I don't even know living in Paris during the 1940s, that's a terrible time to live in. Even more so because of his religion (and especially all the antisemitism going on) he is forced to hide in a building for now and pretend to be a different religion; he even got fake papers to hide his identity so no one would notice it. In the opening pages the scheme works at first until the Germans come in, stop the charade and forced Ruben to escape to somewhere else. I know Ruben's sister is gone for now and the book said someone called the Fox was going to rescue him but they never came for some reason. All Ruben has for company are some other characters who share the same mission which takes place throughout the middle section of the novel. The ending was bittersweet when Ruben reunited with his sister Rosa but unfortunately their parents didn't make it. It was nice to get some semblance of closure there but it would've been more impactful if it didn't feel like the author was rushing to finish the story off and if the characters were more well written.… (más)

Lovely story about how the Muslim people sheltered Jewish children in their mosques when the Nazis were rounding up the Jews prior to the Holocaust. In this story, 11 year old Ruben becomes Abdul Azim and learns Arabic and how to act, pray and eat like an Islamic child should the Nazis ever raid the mosque looking for Jewish children. Gripping story based on real life happenings that also looks at the underground movements that existed to shelter and move Jews from the most deadly spots in Europe during World War 2.… (más)

On Matt's 15th Birthday he receives a birthday card from his mother - mother his father told him died in a car accident 10 years ago! Matt sets out to find out where his mother is, why his father kept her from him and who is telling the truth. He documents his feelings in a school assignment where he has to write to a famous person from history; choosing Leonardo Da Vinci because Matt is interested in art. Matt soon discovers that his mother has bipolar disorder and left him at a shopping center when he was two (one of many similar incidents). When he finally travels out to the country to meet her, she refuses to open the door to him and he ends up sleeping in her barn. But this is just the tip of the iceberg as her unpredictable behaviour (she won't take her medication because it stops her painting) threatens to ruin his life forever. A gripping novel about how you can choose youe friends but not your family.… (más)