When The World Was Ours: A book about finding hope in the darkest of times

Reviews

WhatCathyReadNext

For example, Elsa’s delight in acquiring a best friend, Greta, and their joint adoption of a cat they feed with scraps. These provide a counterpoint to some of the truly chilling scenes in the book: the school assembly at which Jewish children are singled out; the day Max accompanies his father to work and its location is revealed; and, later, Max’s feeling that it is “his destiny” when found a job at his father’s new posting. It’s difficult not to get a sense of foreboding also at Elsa’s hope that the outbreak of war against Germany means, “Everything is going to be all right. Or Leo’s pride at overcoming the obstacles to getting himself and his mother to safety.

Paige

I would highly recommend you read it if you liked The Book Thief by Markus Sedgwick and/or Fritz and Kurt by Jeremy Dronfield. Non spoilery review“We have to get the picture just right. To be loved.

Sallyandbooks

They couldn’t have been. His mental contortions as he tries to reconcile what his conscience is telling him about his friends with the anti-Semitic hatred he is being fed by his father and the authorities is hard to witness. Only gradually do the youngsters become aware of the consequences of Leo and Elsa’s Jewish faith when anti-Jewish sentiment becomes more widespread and is followed by legal restrictions, and worse. And as soon as I finished it I went straight on to read Code Name Kingfisher Liz Kesslers newest historical middle grade book.

3 young friends celebrate a birthday at a theme park in Vienna. The author really captures the emotional and psychological toll of their experiences on the three children and the insidious nature of Nazi indoctrination. ” he asked.

At the brink of the Second World War. How easily we let the inconceivable become a new normal.

Since Leo and Elsa are Jewish, the lives of the three children, and their families, are destined to take very different paths. They each learn what being a Jew is like and why they cannot see each other anymore.