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The Search
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The Search
In this graphic novel about the Holocaust, a Jewish grandmother recounts to her grandson how she escaped from the Nazis and survived. With her grandson's help, she plunges into a search to discover what happened to the rest of her family during their last months at Auschwitz. The Search is a compilation of many stories of Jewish families who experienced the horror of the Holocaust. While the illustrations are not explicit, the narration is fairly specific about the horrors the characters experience.
Please note: There is an instance of language on page 25 of The Search. While it will not be new to many middle-school students, parents with young readers may want to hit it with a touch of white-out.
From the Publisher:
Esther remembers her own experience of the Holocaust as a Jewish girl living in Amsterdam, and recounts to her grandson Daniel and his friend Jeroen how she escaped from the Nazis and survived by going into hiding in the countryside. Her parents were not so lucky. Esther knows they were sent to a concentration camp and died there, and with Daniel's help she embarks on a search to discover what happened to them during the last months of their lives. After tracking down an old friend who now lives in Israel, Esther finally learns the shocking story of how her parents met their fates at Auschwitz.
You may think that the comic book medium is primarily for mainstream American children who are peppered by snack-size visual and audio bombardment. If you desire that your children slow down and feast on the written word, then you may cringe at the idea of a graphic novel version of Moby Dick. But before you issue a home-wide ban on these books, consider the following.
If you have a reluctant or beginning reader, your first concern should be for fluidity and competency. You will find that the graphic novel's illustrations draw your child in even as the vocabulary becomes more complex. Then, because the graphics are so attention-grabbing, children often find themselves reading for pleasure.
If your reluctant reader is an older child, your main concern may be making sure that he is culturally savvy. With graphic novels, vocabulary is introduced via contextual clues, making great literature accessible to more children. The interesting pictures and snappy dialogue, with little-to-no narration to bog the reader down, will encourage independent reading and learning. As the child's competence and confidence grow, so will his joy of literacy.
Even if your older child is a competent reader, he will enjoy taking a break from the verbally intense books characteristic of higher-level learning to enjoy a more visual form of storytelling. A 2006 study found that the amount of reading children did for fun decreased from the time they were eight through the teen years. Graphic books can re-engage them in the delights of reading for leisure as well as for learning.
There are children who may never read for pleasure; God just might have wired them differently. But most children, from the reluctant, faltering reader to the brilliant but easily bored adolescent, will find graphic novels intriguing.
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 64
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), under Macmillan Publishing
Authors: Eric Heuvel, Ruud van der Rol, and Lies Schippers
English Translation By: Lorraine T. Miller
Production: Anne Frank House, in cooperation with the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam
ISBN: 9780374464554
Copyright: 2009
Publisher's Recommended Age Range: 10-14
Faith-Based: No
Awards and Endorsements:Texas Maverick Graphic Novels List
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
Kirkus Best Book of the Year
"Heuvel holds little back from his audience, presenting his facts starkly through Tintin-like illustrations that depict the atrocities without artifice. Gripping and visceral, these two volumes together are must-haves."
- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review -