Waiting for Anya - Hardcover

Michael Morpurgo has written over 120 books, many of them award-winning. His best-known work, War Horse, was adapted into a multi-Oscar-nominated film by Steven Spielberg and into a widely acclaimed play. In 2003 Michael became the third Children's Laureate, a position he helped to create with the poet Ted Hughes. With his wife Clare, he set up the charity Farms for City Children, and for their pioneering work they were both awarded the MBE in 1999.

Grade 5-9-- In a village in southern France, only a few miles from Spain, Jo discovers that the Widow Horcada is sheltering Benjamin, her Jewish son-in-law, who is helping to smuggle Jewish children over the border. He is also waiting for his own child, Anya, from whom he was separated. When a garrison of German soldiers is sent to occupy the village in order to stop the flow of refugees into Spain, Benjamin needs the cooperation of the entire village to save the children. What Jo and the others learn, though, is that the Germans are human and that there are more similarities than differences among them. Readers do not see battles, but will witness their effects when Jo's father returns a sick and bitter man; they do not see the horrors of the death camps--it is enough to know that those who are taken away will not be seen again. Everything is seen through the eyes of one young, compassionate boy. There are no villains and no larger-than-life heroes, just human beings following what conscience or duty tells them is right. In its understated style and gentle telling of a harsh lesson, the story is reminiscent of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars (Houghton, 1989). --Susan M. Harding, Mesquite Public Library, TX
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