<p>Starred Review in 3/15 Booklist<p>The first of a trilogy, this stirring graphic novel set in 1940 in the French countryside authentically expresses the personal stand-offs and immediate drama of children who are drawn into the Resistance when German soldiers occupy their village. Paul and his younger sister, Marie, fume at each other even as they help hide their Jewish friend, Henri, after his parents disappear. Their own father is being held by the Germans, and the confusion about who is on which side is always present--that is part of the wartime horror. Resistance fighters, brave as they are, can be petty and vindictive, and so can those they assist. "What took you so long?" a fugitive asks his rescuer, who snaps back, "Sorry for the inconvenience; I thought I should keep you alive." Along with the suspenseful rescues and spy-story elements (including a library book with marked words that deliver secret messages), readers will be held by the realistic characterizations and grim events, all fleshed out in Purvis' quavery artwork that is especially adept at conveying the young characters' wrenching emotions. In the end, the villagers witness the deportations as packed trains pass by, and Henri realizes, "This is just the beginning." An excellent addition to the Holocaust curriculum, especially with the author's lengthy afterword, which offers additional context and also argues that history too often makes everything black and white.<p>"-- Hazel Rochman"<p>Review in 4/15 Kirkus<p>Vichy, 1942: French teenager Paul Tessier, an artist never far from his drawing pad, assumes charge of his family after his father is taken prisoner by German troops. But when his Jewish best friend, Henri Levy, becomes the target of Nazi sympathizers in his small French village, Paul, along with his family, is compelled to act. They enlist in the Resistance movement and arrange to smuggle Henri to Paris, where he will join his parents in hiding. Jablonski's text admirably mixes the drud
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