Hidden Hope

“But hate has a way of bringing out heroes.”

That is my favorite quote from Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust, written by Elisa Boxer and beautifully illustrated by Amy June Bates.

I love non-fiction picture books and appreciate how difficult they are to write and illustrate. On one hand, it might seem easier to tell a true story instead of trying to make one up. But, to tell the truth in a way that appeals to children, relates to children, and inspires children, is extraordinarily difficult. Now, add to that challenge teaching and addressing the Holocaust and you have just amped up the game meter to max. But here comes Elisa Boxer and Amy June Bates hitting it out of the park with their masterful story-telling.

The beginning of the book explains the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

It’s scary.

It has to be.

It should be.

Because it was.

But Elisa Boxer gives the reader hope by introducing us to Jacqueline Gauthier— a teenager who tucked falsified papers into a wooden toy duck and delivered them by bicycle to hidden Jews. But, Jacqueline was actually a Jew herself and not a Christian, as her own falsified papers claimed. Jacqueline wasn’t really a children’s social worker, she was a Jewish member of the French Resistance, and she risked her life delivering papers with new names to help Jewish people escape the concentration camps and find safety.

The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. Somber tones punctuated by Jacqueline’s crimson beret and the yellow toy duck. My favorite spread depicts Jacqueline being stopped by a Nazi soldier. The spread shows Jacqueline’s bicycle spanning both pages. She stands and straddles her bike facing in profile to the right with her eyes closed and her nose held high in pride and defiance as the Nazi takes up almost the entire left hand page. He is slightly hunched over and searching through Jacqueline’s basket on the back of her bike. The two pages are combined by the bicycle, but definitely separate and divided. The soldier is drawn with aggressive lines, the color of the entire page is washed in an umber red. This is in contrast to the right-hand page which is lighter, painted with cooler grays, slightly brighter, lighter, and hopeful.

There is very poignant back-matter stating that the author wrote this book because she lost so many family members during the Holocaust. And, that as a journalist, she has interviewed many others whose families have been torn apart. She also explains Jacqueline’s true story in more detail and it’s utterly fascinating.

This is a beautiful, brilliant, important book. I hope that it’s shared with every possible reader so that we never forget. Thank you, Elisa Boxer and Amy June Bates, for this moving tribute.