Just recently had the privilege of reading one of the best Dear America books I’ve ever read entitled "One Eye Laughing the Other Weeping," by Barry Denenberg. If you are not familiar with Dear America books they are fictional diaries of fictional girls and boys living during momentous time periods in history. This book contains the diary of Julie Weiss- a 12 year old living in Vienna, Austria in 1938. In the book infamous tyrant Adolf Hitler invades Austria and makes the country a part of Germany. Hitler sends his Nazis through the streets breaking into Jewish homes and dragging the Jews inside into concentration camps. Since Julie and her family are Jewish, her father soon sends to her America after a family tragedy to live with her Aunt Clara and Uncle Martin. Julie can’t stop thinking about her homeland, however, and wonders if she will ever see her family and friends again.
This book really shows us how horribly the Jews were treated during this time, and thus might be upsetting for some younger children to read. Many of the characters are killed as the story unfolds, and the cruel treatment of the Jews is shocking to comprehend. I actually came close to tears while reading it, and that’s saying something as I never cry over books. It is excellently written, but I didn’t care for the fact that the main girl and her family really didn’t care about their Jewish faith or any religious faith at all. This fact keeps this from being my favorite Dear America book. (I prefer the ones where the main characters are Christians.) But that shouldn’t keep you from reading the book. The characters are fascinating and I could hardly put the book down. It is probably the most suspenseful book in this series. Overall I give the book 3 ½ to 4 stars out of 5.
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That sounds so sad! I had to read a book about a boy who was a victim of the Holocaust last year for my summer reading project. That's just so sad that those things had to happen. :-(
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