Good-bye Marianne

August 1, 1998
Gr 4-6-This brief novel opens in Berlin in November, 1938, as 11-year-old Marianne Kohn is forced to leave school because Jewish children are no longer allowed to attend classes with Aryans. She becomes friends with a boy who is visiting in her building, but later learns that Ernest belongs to the Jung Volk, the boy's branch of the Hitler Youth. Their friendship, however, has a contrived happy ending. Meanwhile, Marianne's mother, a volunteer at an orphanage, is busy making arrangements for a Kindertransport, in which hundreds of German Jewish children will be sent to safety in England. When one of the youngsters becomes ill, Mrs. Kohn makes it possible for Marianne to take her place. The story ends as the girl boards the boat taking her to England. Readers are left wondering what happens to her. Even though Watts herself was a participant in a Kindertransport, the story lacks vitality and immediacy. The characterizations are predictable; the story line is slight. Olga Drucker's Kindertransport (Holt, 1992) is a much better choice, giving a more complete portrait of life during this terrible time.-Malka Keck, The Temple Tifereth Israel, Beachwood, OH