A Family Secret, by Eric Heuvel (Square Fish, 2009, 64 pages, $11.45, grades 5-6, ages 10-14)
Another excellent historical graphic novel, A Family Secret may be considered a sequel to The Search* (see the previous review), and it reveals part of the story that took place but was not included in the first book.. Again we have a young Dutch boy in modern times visiting his grandmother, Helene, searching her attic for something to sell in the annual Queen’s Day flea market.
He finds his grandmother’s scrapbook from 1939 with photos of her best friend, Esther, a Jew. Helene’s father was a policeman who sided with the occupying Nazis to keep his job while her older brother joins the Resistance.
Jewish children are not allowed to attend school or play in parks. They were being rounded up. Esther and Helene were separated.
A wonderful historical that takes the reader to Dutch Indonesia where the Dutch were imprisoned by the Japanese during WW2 – then back again to today in The Netherlands.
I will not reveal the two-part surprise ending but it will remain memorable and very much worth the reading.
With a few fewer characters than The Search, A Family Secret also has a pictorial list of characters to help the reader.
You will remember this story long after reading it and may read it over and over again.
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Caveat: This book was purchased for review.
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