Shadow of the Wall

Ever since the death of their father, Misha and his sister Rachel have lived in the orphanage run by Dr. Janusz Korczak. Conditions in the Warsaw ghetto have grown steadily worse, forcing Misha to become a smuggler and black marketeer. Recruited by an underground resistance group, Misha leaves the ghetto in time to escape the deadly journey to Treblinka. Though Misha and his family are fictional characters, Korczak did actually live and work in the ghetto, and his deeds certainly merit recounting. This, however, is a frustrating book, for the author's storytelling ability does not equal her grasp of the sordid details of ghetto life. The narrative also suffers from numerous, apparently arbitrary shifts in point of view. Misha's story seems tacked on in order to make the heartbreaking subject matter more accessible to young readers. Ironically, the novel's most powerful moments occur when the sad, ugly truth seeps out through the weak story line--on these occasions, the claustrophobia of doomed lives in the ghetto becomes almost tangible. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)