Illustrated by Andrea Offermann
Candlewick, 2011
$16.99, ages 10 and up, 208 pages
Two brothers on the run from Nazi Germans stumble upon an abandoned zoo where they struggle to make sense of a terrifying world, in this deeply moving novel by the author of Thursday's Child.
When Germans invade their clan's camp, killing their uncle and taking their gypsy parents captive, 12-year-old Andrej and 9-year-old Tomas flee for their lives to an empty village crushed by Nazi bombs.
The village is like a ghost town, eerie and dangerous. They forage in the rubble for scraps of food, guarding a secret bundle in their knapsack. Then one night, they let loose and run through the streets.
Their arms stretch out like wings of airplanes and their hands jounce along the iron bars of a fence. They're imagining, if only for a few moment, that they don't know the horrors of war.
Their arms stretch out like wings of airplanes and their hands jounce along the iron bars of a fence. They're imagining, if only for a few moment, that they don't know the horrors of war.
Then all of a sudden a low, gravely noise stirs them from their play, the growl of a rangy wolf. Its footfalls threaten from behind and they flee for shelter. Then just as quickly the wolf stops in its tracks, and they realize it cannot get to them.
The wolf is behind the fence that they ran their fingers over, in a small zoo, a circuit of cages laid out like a garden.
The wolf is behind the fence that they ran their fingers over, in a small zoo, a circuit of cages laid out like a garden.
