Catherine's War

October 1, 2019
This story will make readers want to join the Resistance. In 1942 France, Rachel calls the people who run the Children's Home where she lives by animal names--Seagull, Penguin, Shrew--to keep their real names hidden from the Nazis. As the Nazis add more and more restrictions against Jews, Rachel must change her identity also, to Catherine. Catherine, unlike Rachel, is allowed to eat pork. The expression on her face as she tries it for the first time is nearly glowing. In a lovely three-panel sequence, Fauvel captures each tiny shift in emotion. Her ability to show complex feelings with the smallest possible strokes of ink is remarkable, and Billet has given her memorable scenes to draw, such as a sequence in which students are drilled on their new names, over and over, in a classroom exercise. Her skill at staging a scene helps the book survive its main flaw: There are too many characters, and they arrive and depart too quickly. In another book, this might have been a virtue, creating a nightmarish sense of chaos, but here it simply makes the plot feel rushed. In this claustrophobic wartime setting, the characters are all white and frequently Jewish. Characters are drawn so vividly that, long afterward, readers will remember their names. (Graphic historical fiction. 8-12)

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November 25, 2019
Billet’s emotive historical graphic novel portrays a Jewish girl forced to hide her identity during the Nazi occupation of France. When Rachel Cohen’s school outside Paris becomes unsafe, the aspiring photographer changes her name to Catherine Colin and forsakes any expression of her Jewish identity. Before being whisked away by the French resistance, Catherine’s teacher asks her to take pictures of the war (“We’ll need these testimonies”). After, she lives an itinerant life, traveling from a Catholic boarding school in Saint-Eustache to a peasant farm near Limoges and later to an orphanage in the Pyrenees. Though fear and trauma haunt the country, Catherine encounters the selflessness and sacrifice of strangers, becoming a selfless and generous young woman in the process. Fauvel’s earth-toned illustrations
feature expressive faces alongside panels of photographs being developed, which prove moving as they become visible alongside other characters’ disappearances. While no scenes from the war are portrayed, violent episodes do occur. Thoughtful meditations on the importance of art and shared connection combine with historical fact to make Catherine’s journey feel relevant. Ages 8–12.

December 6, 2019

Gr 7 Up-Billet has crafted a pictorial paean to the everyday heroes of Vichy France, as seen through the eyes-and camera lens-of a Jewish teen. Rachel Cohen's story begins in 1942 at the Sèvres Children's Home outside Paris, where students separated from their parents direct their own education. As Nazi deportations increase, the school's Jewish residents must flee. Rachel assumes a new identity-Catherine Colin-and hides in plain sight. Aided by those she meets on her journey, "Catherine" travels from Sèvres to a monastery in Riom, a family farm in Limoges, an orphanage in the Pyrenees, and a second small farm before finally returning to a liberated Paris in the hope of reuniting with her parents. Along the way, her beloved Rolleiflex camera documents her story one snapshot at a time. Adapted from a novel based on Billet's mother's wartime experiences, this tale vividly renders a period that might seem removed to younger readers. Almost every panel-especially those inspired by real photographs-could stand alone as a work of art. From the subtle motion lines and detailed facial expressions to intricately composed scenes and dramatic backdrops, Fauvel's ink and watercolor illustrations are masterly. This brief book will leave readers wishing they could spend more time among the torrent of settings and characters. VERDICT A remarkable tribute to the generosity, compassion, and courage of ordinary people who endanger themselves to do right, as well as those who capture glimpses of light in the darkness.-Steven Thompson, Sadie Pope Dowdell Library, South Amboy, NJ

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2019
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Billet tells the story of Catherine Colin, born Rachel Cohen, and her experiences as a Jewish girl living in France during WWII in this graphic novel originally published in French and adapted from Billet's novel of the same name. Catherine's story begins in a progressive school where she learns about and acquires a passion for photography. As the Germans gain a stronger hold on France, Catherine is forced to move throughout the country to evade capture, but she meets many supportive friends along the way. The lyrical translation reads like a memoir, and it is, in fact, based on Billet's mother's experience as one of the hidden children of WWII. Catherine is always looking for opportunities to photograph people, and illustrations of her photographs appear often throughout the book. In Fauvel's artwork, many of the settings are beautifully detailed, with a muted palette that helps evoke the bleak circumstances and landscape, and while the characters receive less definition, they're undeniably expressive. The ravages of WWII are not glossed over (readers learn of people who go missing, never to be heard from again, and see people with missing limbs, though not in particularly graphic detail), but Catherine's ability to find beauty in the world regardless makes for a forward-looking read. An author's note sifts fact from fiction, and a few photos are reproduced in the back matter.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)