CATHERINE'S WAR by Julia Billet, illustrated by Claire Fauvel

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1156451

Billet, C. Catherine’s War, (2020), New York, NY: Harper Alley, HarperCollins Publishers. 

Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 12 years / Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7 according to Amazon

Catherine’s War is really Rachel’s war, but as a Jewish child trying to survive the holocaust, Catherine is a much safer name. The story is fairly linear and the visuals are amped up by the inclusion of Catherine/Rachel’s “photographs.” Generally when I am reading a graphic novel, I have to remind myself to consider the visuals, but this one demanded I look. 

The book was excellent at showing the depths of the war without being overtly violent. It looks more at the emotional trauma of a child survivor. The story is loosely based on Billet’s mother, who was much younger at the time, but was a student at the children's home in Sevres.

I have read a lot of YA and middle grade fiction about the holocaust, so there was not much here to surprise me except for the pedagogy of the Sevres children’s home. I loved it! The idea of students having so much autonomy over their education is fascinating to me. I was a little disappointed to discover this information on the school, “Great importance, then, was placed on personal observation, artistic expression, creativity, and individual autonomy. Yet the emotional shortcomings and artificial nature of this life without any contact with the outside world meant that many of its students had great difficulty adapting to adult life.” (Maurel, 2008).

I blame the war, not the pedagogy!

This book is an excellent work of historical fiction that got me thinking.