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Girl Alona Frankel

Girl By Alona Frankel

Girl by Alona Frankel


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Girl Summary

Girl: My Childhood and the Second World War by Alona Frankel

Alona Frankel was just two years old when Germany invaded Poland. After a Polish carpenter agreed to hide her parents but not her, Alona's parents desperately handed her over to a greedy woman who agreed to hide her only as long as they continued to send money. Isolated from her parents and living among pigs, horses, mice, and lice, Alona taught herself to read and drew on scraps of paper. The woman would send these drawings to Alona's parents as proof that Alona was still alive. In time, the money ran out and Alona was tossed into her parents' hiding place, at this point barely recognizing them. After Poland's liberation, Alona's mother was admitted to a terminal hospital and Alona handed over to a wealthy, arrogant family of Jewish survivors who eventually cast her off to an orphanage. Despite these daily horrors and dangers surrounding her, Alona's imagination could not be restrained. A powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit, Girl is the story of a young girl's self-preservation through a horrible war and its aftermath. Faithful to the perspective of the heroine herself, Frankel, now a world renowned children's author and illustrator, reveals a little girl full of life in a terrible, evil world.

Girl Reviews

A very wise, sensitive, wonderful book.

-- Haim Be'er

I warmly recommend this important and beautiful girl.

-- Yaron London

Perhaps Alona Frankel, who has never cried, writes to enable herself to cry, or to become visible rather than invisible; to bring into being that girl whose creativity and rich vision were blocked and strangled. But there is more to this book than the story of a persecuted childhood, for hidden behind the events is a conflict between the forces of darkness around her and the forces of light; between pessimism and lack of love and the ability to illuminate the world with her inner strength and her longing for beauty.14

-- Hannah Hertzig

Nowhere in the book does the girl who learned to hide and stop crying ask us for pity or compassion. These feelings come by themselves, and from the best place an artist can find-the power and quality of the book. . .[Frankel has a] talent for storytelling that gracefully ignores conventions. It is wonderful to be able to write a book like Girl-it is the best book I have read this year! I would like to see it in the windows of bookstores all over Europe, and quickly, so everyone will know how great it is.

-- Ynet

An impressionistic memoir of a Polish Jewish girl's survival hiding as a Gentile in Nazi-occupied Poland. What lifts this beautifully understated narrative above many other admirable efforts are Frankel's gift for visceral detail and trained eye as a novelist. . . A truly moving and bravely rendered memoir.

* Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) *

Reading Girl is an unforgettable experience. The horror of the Holocaust-the heavy, viscous fear of death-seeps into every page. Yet, what remains by the book's end isn't the horror of human evil but the good of the human heart. It's young Frankel as a girl who befriends rats and mice while in hiding, who celebrates the miracle of life in unspeakable conditions. It's a little girl in hiding who ultimately finds beauty that needs nothing else.

* ForeWord Reviews *

One of the qualities that makes this book so remarkable is its author's honesty, her remembrance of terrible things past which, despite everything, did not destroy her.

* The Washington Times *

Stands out for its powerful writing and the author's resilience. . . . [Frankel] writes with sensitivity and unforgettable detail

* The Jewish Week *

Frankel tells her story simply and with wry grace.

* Jewish Book Council *

Alona Frankel's memoir, described as being faithful to the perspective of her younger self, is more mannered and even, at times, poetic.

* Times Literary Supplement *

About Alona Frankel

Alona Frankel was born in Krakow, Poland, in June of 1937. After surviving World War II, she immigrated to Israel in 1949. Alona has written and illustrated over 50 children's books, including the international best seller Once Upon a Potty. Her books have won numerous prizes, including several Parents' Choice awards.

Additional information

CIN0253022355G
9780253022356
0253022355
Girl: My Childhood and the Second World War by Alona Frankel
Used - Good
Paperback
Indiana University Press
20160829
280
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Girl