Martine Letterie: Kinderen met een ster

Kinderen met een ster (engl: Children with a star)
Illus. by Rick de Haas. 
Uitgeverij Leopold 2016.

German edition: Kinder mit Stern.

Illus. by Julie Völk with three drawings by Leo Meijer.
Transl. by Andrea Kluitmann
Carlsen 2023.

Leo has recently begun to attend a different school. From the village, where he was the only Jew in his class, he now must take a ferry into town to join the Jewish class at the synagogue. Not only did Leo’s daily life change in the year 1940, but also that of all Jews in the Netherlands. After the German invasion, their lives have become harder and harder. Rosa can no longer visit the zoo, Klaartje cannot play on the playground, and Jules can no longer take the streetcar. The Germans have taken all Jews to a camp named Westerbork, where the adults make an effort to enable their children to experience as little fear as possible. In an impressive and empathetic manner, Martine Letterie depicts in short, chronological episodes the persecution and murder of Jews from a child’s point of view. She describes without embellishment the catastrophic consequences of dehumanization and hate, but also shows that in such terrible times compassion, hope and love remain constant.
 

Grade 4-7