The Sky Was My Blanket: A Young Man’s Journey Across Wartime Europe
by Uri Shulevitz; illus. by the author
Intermediate, Middle School    Farrar    160 pp.
8/25    9780374392468    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780374392475    $11.99

The late Shulevitz, author of the acclaimed memoir Chance: Escape from the Holocaust (rev. 11/20), recounts the story of his beloved uncle’s experiences in the early twentieth century and during the Holocaust. Born in 1915 Poland, Yehiel left home at fifteen seeking adventure beyond his close yet restrictive family: “Although Father was a kind and loving man, when it came to religious observance, he was strict and allowed for no compromises.” Leaving home was a decision that ultimately saved his life after Germany invaded Poland and his parents and two of his brothers (the third being Shulevitz’s father) were murdered by the Nazis. The specter of the Holocaust hangs heavily over the narrative (“Ugly graffiti was scrawled on walls: Jews, your time is coming”), but Yehiel’s life was full of incident: working his way across Eastern Europe, studying Hebrew and leatherwork in Vienna, joining a brother in Paris, moving to Barcelona and fighting against fascism in the Spanish Civil War, joining a Jewish Resistance group, getting married, surviving World War II, and becoming a naturalized French citizen. The use of first person adds a storytelling element: Yehiel was like a second father to the author, who met his uncle in 1946 when the Shulevitzes arrived after their own wartime ordeal, and it’s easy to “hear” the voice of Yehiel in the straightforward and engaging narrative. Shulevitz’s recognizably textured line work appears throughout, while images by his uncle, who began painting later in life, are appended.

From the September/October 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.