Benno and the Night of Broken Glass

Starred review from May 10, 2010
Life seems good for neighborhood cat Benno. He has a warm bed, he's a welcome guest in homes and businesses, and there's neverending supply of tasty scraps. But Benno lives in 1930s Berlin and, gradually but inexorably, Nazism engulfs his cozy world. The Jewish and Gentile girls he has always escorted to school no longer walk together, the scraps dry up, and he must dodge the heavy boots of brown-shirted men who "strutted about with their heads held high." On Kristallnacht Benno cowers in fear as "the air filled with screams and shouts, sounds of shattering and splintering glass, and the bitter smell of smoke." Debuting talents Wiviott and Bisaillon have created a heart-wrenching account of the days that signaled the beginning of the Holocaust. Benno's inability to comprehend the hatred that erupts before him, his attempts to piece together the routines that once shaped his life, and his numbed capitulation to the new reality make him highly sympathetic. Bisaillon's illustrations are especially noteworthy: a mixture of collage, drawings, and digital montage, they movingly depict how a rich and seemingly resilient tapestry of human experiences was lost forever. Ages 7–11.

Starred review from May 1, 2010
Gr 3-5-Through the eyes of an orange and white cat, readers are introduced to the harrowing event known as "Kristallnacht". Benno spends his days observing the friendly, predictable rituals in his neighborhood: girls walking together to school, shopkeepers selling their wares, a Jewish family eating Sabbath dinner, a Christian family eating Sunday lunch. Then one night, he sees brown-shirted men breaking down doors, smashing shop windows, and setting fire to books and buildings. Jewish families disappear, and even though the people that remain resume their normal activities, nothing is ever quite the same again. The straightforward text describes events without sentimentality, as if Benno were simply reporting what he sees and hears. "In Apartment 3B, the mob was breaking the Adlers' furniture and throwing books out the window]. The Schmidts' apartment was untouched." But what truly distinguishes this book is the striking multimedia artwork composed of paper, fabric, and drawn images in hues of olive, brown, and red. Interesting angles, textures, and patterns add to the visual effect throughout. The spreads depict a normal city neighborhood from a cat's-eye view, which is eventually upended by dark shadowy figures with big black boots. Thus the message of terror and sadness that marks the beginning of the Holocaust is transmitted in a way that is both meaningful and comprehensible. An afterword provides historical context for the story, although it presupposes knowledge of the term "Holocaust." Use this book with Karen Hesse's "The Cats in Krasinski Square" (Scholastic, 2004) for further discussion of the topic. For all collections."Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
Grades 2-5 It is not easy to tell young kids the horrifying truth about the Holocaust, but this picture book is a good place to start. Using the fictionalized viewpoint of a cat, Benno, it shows what happened to families in one Berlin community. Benno feels welcome in many homes and stores, and he likes following a Jewish girl, Sophie, and her Christian friend to school everyday. Then everything changes, and the neighborhood is no longer friendly. Benno cowers as terrifying men in brown shirts light bonfires, and then there is a night like no other, during which Benno hears screams and shattering glass, and he watches apartments being ravaged and the synagogue burn. The next day, life continues for some, but Benno never sees others again, including Sophie and her family. The unframed, double-page spreads, created with a mix of collage, drawings, and digital montage, show the warm neighborhood transformed as red flames take over, books fly, and soldiers march in black boots with razor-edged soles. A brief afterword and bibliography add more information and historical context.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)