The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival
by Estelle Nadel with Sammy Savos and Bethany Strout; illus. by Sammy Savos
Intermediate, Middle School    Roaring Brook    272 pp.
1/24    9781250247766    $25.99
Paper ed.  9781250247773    $17.99
e-book ed.  9781250366672    $11.99

At the start of this compelling graphic memoir, four-year-old Enia Feld lives a seemingly carefree life with her loving extended family in 1939 Borek, Poland. Though they are “very, very poor”—and there are hints of antisemitism and violence to come—Enia feels safe, secure, and well cared for, her voice constantly lifted in song. “And I thought we would be this happy forever.” On September 1, though, Germany invades. The family’s rights are continually eroded (“Things changed over the next two years. Slowly”) until, inevitably, they are forced to flee for their lives. In five dramatic parts—Innocence, Hidden, Liberation, A New Beginning, The Girl Who Sang—this harrowing story is told and shown in clear sequential art that reflects the terror and grief of Enia’s experiences in contrast with her early, pastoral-set days. When liberation finally occurs, after years of whispers in hiding, the once-vivacious girl has gone nearly silent, but it’s in finding her voice that she is able to begin a new life in America. The history is deeply personal, as related by Nadel (who passed away in November 2023), and her intent is made clear in her concluding note: “I’m not going to be here forever. Someday there will no longer be Holocaust survivors still living…I want you, the young people, the next generation, to carry our stories on.” An afterword, family photos, additional resources, an illustrator’s note, and details about comics are appended.

Pubissue-From the March/April 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.