Hilde and Eli, Children of the Holocaust: Children of the Holocaust

Adler and Ritz follow up their A Picture Book of Anne Frank by briefly describing two other young victims of the Holocaust, 18-year-old Hilde Rosenzweig and nine-year-old Eli Lax. Neither has a particular claim on public memory-Hilde's brother escaped from Germany to England in 1940, while three of Eli's sisters survived various concentration camps; these siblings told Hilde's and Eli's stories to Adler. Unfortunately, Adler deals out sweet generalizations and few telling particulars (""Eli had no real toys, but he was a happy child who was always smiling""), thus failing to memorialize Hilde and Eli as anything but representative victims of the Nazis. Ritz's paintings seem modeled on photographs, but they, too, have a generic quality. It should be noted that a basic awareness of the Holocaust is presumed-this story is only for those with a previously developed interest in the subject. Ages 6-9. (Oct.)