“Angel Girl” by Laurie Friedman, illustrated by Ofra Amit
Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis, 2008, 32 pages, Grades 3-4.
In times of great trial, some people would just as soon try not to see problems. This position solves nothing however since historical events do not simply vanish. However, others choose to take heroic steps to confront evil.
During World War II, the Nazi Third Reich developed an evil plan later known as the Holocaust. In the Holocaust, certain groups were selected to be exterminated by the Nazis. The primary group was the Jewish community but many other nationalities, minority and religious groups were also included. Among these were Gypsies, Seventh Day Adventists, homosexuals, Russian prisoners of war, and Catholic and Protestant clergymen deemed to be threats to the state. In the face of this descending nightmare, people were often faced with a choice: Should they try to do something against this evil, or just try to stay out of trouble?
Laurie Friedman has written a remarkable story about two children, Herman and Roma, and their decisions when they are caught in the horrible vise of the Holocaust. The name of this courageous story is “Angel Girl.”
The pleasant, pre-war life of the Jewish community is shattered with the arrest of all Jews in the town. Eleven-year-old Herman Rosenblat and his family are marched to the train station. Cattle cars are standing by to transport them to concentration camps. At the station, everyone is separated by sex. Herman’s mother tells him to leave the young children and the women and join the men. She and the other women and young children disappear into crowded railcars. Most of the Jews will never again see their separated family members.
After a frightening ride in crammed cattle cars, the Jews arrive at the concentration camp. There they are registered, given prison clothes and sent to a barracks. Herman is terrified and lays on his thin bunk, wondering what is going to happen. One of the first things he discovers is that the prisoners are going to be fed very little. In a matter of weeks, Herman is slowly starving to death. He walks in misery to the fence one day and sees a young girl hiding in the trees nearby. She is holding an apple and wants to give it to him. But both children know if they are caught that they will be executed. So the girl waits until the guards aren’t looking and throws the apple over the fence to Herman. The starving boy gratefully eats the apple and begins to get both strength and hope.
Each day the girl returns and throws him another apple. This goes on for months. Finally, the war comes to an end and the prisoners are freed. Herman doesn’t even know the name of his rescuer but tells her through the barbed wire on the last day that she has been his Angel Girl. A tear forms in her beautiful green eyes before she leaves. But who is she and will Herman ever see her again?
What happens next in the story? How do the terrible trials of Herman end in such a beautiful true life story? The ending is as poignant as it is surprising. I hope you get a chance to go to the library and read this exceptional book, “Angel Girl” by Laurie Friedman.
This book is about a horrible event in history so it is not pleasant to read. However, it could be used very effectively in a middle school social studies class, or as a text for middle grade students studying the Holocaust.
The ending is so beautiful that it will leave readers gasping and demonstrates that in the midst of the sins of mankind, God can write straight with crooked lines. I hope you get a chance to read this remarkable story.
