The Doll with the Yellow Star - Hardcover

McDonough, Yona Zeldis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805063374 ISBN 13: 9780805063370

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2005

Synopsis

A tender story about the power of love in the face of loss

Nine-year-old Claudine doesn't want to leave her much-loved home in France to go live in America, not without her parents. But she knows about the shortages, about the yellow stars Jews must wear, and about Adolf Hitler. And she knows that there are some things she needs to do even when she doesn't want to. It's wartime, and there is much that is different now. There are more things that Claudine will lose to this terrible war. But not everything that is lost must be lost forever. Here is a moving story about lost and found lives, and the healing power of love.

About this title

About the Author:

Yona Zeldis McDonough is the author of many acclaimed children's books, including The Dollhouse Magic. Born in Israel, Ms. McDonough grew up in the United States and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and their two children.

Kimberly Bulcken Root has illustrated more than fifteen books for young readers, including Holt's reissue of Understood Betsy. She lives in Quarryville, Pennsylvania.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-5–Eight-year-old Claudine is a Jewish girl living in occupied France during World War II. Her loving parents try to keep her life as normal as possible, and even manage to buy her a lovely new doll for her birthday. But after the Germans decree that Jews must wear a yellow star, things begin to change for the worse, and soon Claudine's parents decide to send her to America to live with her aunt and uncle. She convinces them to let her take Violette, on whose clothes she has also sewn a tiny yellow star. But at the end of the voyage, her toy gets lost, and Claudine wonders if she will ever see it or her parents again. Her journey, adjustment to life in America, and eventual reunion with her father make up the bulk of this story, but what is missing is any true sense of what it feels like to leave behind everything that you know and face an uncertain future in a strange new place. Although nicely written and generously illustrated with watercolors, many events in the book feel contrived, and the reunion of Claudine with her doll in the end seems less of a miracle than merely a device to wrap things up. Vera W. Propp's When the Soldiers Were Gone (Putnam, 1999) is a better choice for showing the impact of the war on children separated from their parents. A well-meaning yet additional purchase.–Teri Markson, Stephen S. Wise Temple Elementary School, Los Angeles
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About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0805063374
• ISBN 13: 9780805063370
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96
• Illustrator: Root Kimberly Bulcken