After the Train

December 22, 2008
In 1955 West Germany, 13-year-old Peter thinks WWII and its atrocities are old news. National Book Award winner Whelan (Homeless Bird
) loads Peter's summer vacation with big lessons: he helps a kindly Jewish philosophy professor–turned–bricklayer rebuild the town church; fishing in the river that borders East Germany, he and his buddies help a man safely reach the West German side; he overhears anti-Semitic comments and tries to make up for them with a generous gesture. But the biggest discovery is prompted by a recurring nightmare. Unnerved, rifling through his parents' things, Peter finds evidence that he is not their natural child; eventually he learns that he is Jewish, pressed into a stranger's arms just before his birth mother boarded a train for Dachau. The straightforward narrative takes readers through Peter's anguish and confusion, his first lessons in Judaism and his attempts to announce his newfound identity. The plotting is too convenient and the pace unrealistically swift, but middle-graders who are not ready to deal with either a more nuanced presentation or with more brutal truths will like the drama as well as the message of acceptance and hope. Ages 8–12.

March 1, 2009
Gr 5-8-In Germany, in 1955, scars of the Nazi regime and anti-Semitism are still evident. When a school assignment includes researching a "good German" who opposed Hitler's government, Peter Liebig finds himself in a dilemna. He searches his parents' letters written during the war and finds a picture of a woman whose face he recognizes from his lifelong nightmares. Everything he has known about his family and upbringing is contradicted by his discovery that he is a Jewish boy, rescued and adopted by a woman working with the Red Cross when his biological mother was sent to Dachau. A conflict of emotions develops as Peter is angry and resentful yet still loves the parents he has known. At the same time he is disturbed by a sense of loyalty and a need to find out the true fate of his birth parents. Whelan's well-developed story line and characterization present a short, psychological drama of a boy struggling to come to terms with his past so that his future identity, be that Jewish or Christian, can be formed. Supporting roles of Peter's peers, as well as that of a new friend, a Holocaust survivor who helps him with gentle advice and a caring introduction to a Jewish environment, bring this boy's story full circle.Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2008
Grades 6-9 Growing up in Germany in the 1950s, Peter is tired of his eighth-grade teacher droning on about the evils of anti-Semitism and all the bad things the Nazis did. He knows that the Holocaust happened, but why must he hear about it and feel guilty? He just wants to play soccer with his friends and think about the present. Then he discovers that he is adopted and that his birth mother was Jewish and died in a concentration camp. There are many plot contrivances as Peter finds secret files his loving Catholic adoptive parents have kept, including a picture of his birth mother. But the intensity of the issues, the blend of personal conflict and historical facts, and the young teens present-tense narrative will hold readers as Peter embraces his Judaism, attends synagogue, and confronts the prejudice that continues among classmates and adults.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)