Hidden Pearl

Hidden Pearl is a good starting place for younger readers being introduced to the Holocaust and WWII. The story of Pearl and her family hiding from the Nazis is a powerful one, with both tragedy and joy. It does not skirt around the devastation that many families faced, but as it is for younger readers, it does not go into too much detail of the horrors of daily life at that time and place.

What I 😍 Loved: Learning about the hiding of Jewish children in plain sight. I have not read a story like this before.
How I 😥☺ Felt: Saddened at the terrible things this family went through, but the strength of this entire family was so moving!
To Read 👍 or 👎Not to Read: You must read this book! I finished it in less than 24 hours. It was so good!!
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This is a true story, following Pearl and her family at the start of World War II in Poland. Pearl and her family must run as the Nazi's invade their town and begin shooting people. Their grandmother is shot as they run and in the confusion and terror, lose track of one of her brothers. Thus begins a terrifying journey to survive for Pearl and her family.
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After being turned away from numerous homes, they take refuge in a forest and abandoned bunker. As they try to survive there, they realize they must hide some of the children at farms in the area. Pearl pretends to be an orphan and is taken in as a helper on a woman's farm.
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Pearl's story is so intense and moving, you can't stop reading. The book is well-written and easy to read. The story never has downtime and my only wish is that there had been more! There's photos at the end of the book of Pearl and her family, which was a wonderful addition.

Survival of the Children
This story about a Jewish family and how they hid from the Nazi's in occupied Poland is a great one for young adults and perhaps even middle school children as well as adults.

It tells the story of how different members of the family split up and survived. It has no graphic passages and the extermination of the Jewish people is not dwelled upon.

The story is mainly based around one of the Children Pearl and a forest ranger that helped her find a home to hide as a non Jew. He would stop by on occasion and give her news about her family.

After the war the remainder of the family that survived, several members did not, reunited and found a small home in town.

I liked the honest and simple writing style, so easy to read. I am glad that the author wrote the story and shared it with us. I would definitely recommend to the YA age reading group.

Thanks to the author, the publishing company and Net Galley for allowing me to read an advance copy of the book.

This was an incredibly moving and short story (around 110 pages) based on the life of the author's Jewish mother in law and what the family had to go through whilst they tried to survive in Nazi occupied Poland during WWII. There were beautiful photos of family members at the end of this book which really drove home that this was a true story, and these people had to survive through such horrors.

I was really moved by this book and what people had to deal with because of one political party and their absolutely batty belief in the Aryan race and eradication of Jewish people. 

This felt far more like a middle grade historical fiction, primarily because of how short this was and how it felt very unemotional when facing family tragedies in the writing style.

I would recommend this for a quick read, maybe something to read with a younger member of your family if they're just beginning to learn about WWII. 

Trigger warnings for antisemitism, concentration camps, ghettos, Nazi war crimes, death of loved ones, racial cleansing, genocide, ableism, and physical abuse.

**I recieved a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review **

The Hidden Pearl illuminates her story of being of being a hidden child, and the difficult choices families had make in order to survive World War II.
Pearl's story begins with her family, her parents and brothers and sisters living in the countryside of Poland when they become face to face with the Gestapo invading their village. They were forced to flee in hopes of surviving.

It is stories like these that break my heart. Pearl was ten, her childhood stripped away from her and her siblings like many other jewish children. They were forced to grow up and live in constant fear of being discovered, worry about the well being of your family. She was strong and resilient young girl that is for sure.

I enjoyed that the author stuck soly to Pearl's story. It is tempting to drop a story into context providing details of the war intertwined with the story. I felt like I was listening to her tell her story as she experienced it which I think is important.

I personally don't enjoy giving ratings to memoirs, as who am I to judge their life, or how they write about their experiences. But I highly recommend this book.