The Hiding Game

In what she describes as a work of creative nonfiction, Strauss (Ruth and the Green Book, written with Calvin Alexander Ramsey) offers a tense recounting of how her great-uncle, Daniel Bénédite, helped keep artists, writers, and other refugees hidden from Nazi persecution in France during WWII. Working with an American, Varian Fry, Bénédite sheltered the likes of Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, and Marcel Duchamp at the Villa Air-Bel, near Marseille; Strauss centers her story around Aube Breton, daughter of poet André Breton, who stayed at the villa for several months. The third-person narration sticks closely to Aube’s experience, filtering moments of mutual support and imminent danger through a child’s perspective. Having learned about the camps “where the authorities put people,” Aube compares their situation to a game of freeze tag as winter sets in: “She thought of all those people freezing, waiting for someone to set them free.” Leonhard’s rough pencil stokes give his illustrations the feel of sketches dashed off as events unfold, and his often-drab palette further establishes a sense of unease. Endnotes capably fill in relevant historical background for young readers. Ages 7–10. [em](Feb.) [/em]